The Ultimate Stars
by Kushin eX
Summary: With the fate of the multiverse at their feet, a team assembled by an unexpected person must fight to defend it. Shikamaru encounters things he'd never have dreamed in a new universe as he learns that he has to adapt... or die. Massive Crossover Event.
1. Introduction: Part 1

Introduction: Part 1

XxX

Shikamaru exited his room and looked around him. It was his own house, part of the Nara clan's estate that he was finally able to buy from his dad after several years of saving. A modest place; living room, kitchen, bathroom and bedroom. He had no need for a large house; he just needed enough to live comfortably. His mom had given him an earful about that, explaining that pretty women wouldn't be attracted to unflashy men and that if he ever wants to get married, he'd better aim higher. He didn't care too much about wives and children just yet, he was only 18, he just wanted this to be his place.

A place he could call his own and raise a family, hopefully marry a plain woman and have two children, a girl and then a boy. He would then grow old enough to retire peacefully and live out his twilight years surrounded by his family before dying before his wife.

"Shikamaru Nara, get your head out of your ass and come see your god-daughter NOW!" as expected, that troublesome woman was getting impatient.

Shikamaru shook his head, before heading down the hall. He had just woken up and was hoping to have a lazy day around the house today.

'_No such luck. I just had to fall for that demoness in human's clothing'_

"You really have no patience for a man such as myself, do you?" said Shikamaru as he entered the living room.

He turned into the room, looking towards the door when he saw his guests. His sensei's widow, Kurenai Yuhi, and her daughter Shiko Yuhi standing in the doorway. Shiko had inherited her father's strong jaw, as well as some of his odder habits. The two year old was already swinging off and jumping onto everything she could, causing Kurenai to invest in a pair of denim dungarees with adjustable straps, something strong enough to withstand her play. Her black hair was curly and growing to be similar to her mother.

'_Hopefully she'll end up calming down a bit too'_

"Hey Kurenai-sensei, want to stay for a cup of tea or something?" offered Shikamaru as he ushered them into the living room.

The woman took off her and her daughter's shoes and was about to reply when Shikamaru's face suddenly faced the floor as he was smacked in the back of the head by an open palm.

"Don't ignore me! Especially in front of company! Don't forget that I'm the ambassador for Suna, a bad report from me could mean a termination of our alliance you jackass" warned Temari, following it up with a punch to the gut.

"Ughhh… woman… Not in front of the kid." muttered Shikamaru, getting his wind back as he looked back up at Kurenai who, along with Shiko, was staring at the couple from their temporary seat on the floor.

"Mommy… why she hit Uncle Shika?" asked the two year old, looking up at her mother expectantly.

Kurenai was still half staring at Shikamaru and Temari, the former looking a little worse for wear after the gut punch and the latter huffing with her arms crossed under her chest. The former jonin giggled to herself briefly, before squatting down to address her daughter.

"Because they're in love, Shiko, a special kind of love"

Temari gaped openly as Kurenai just let out another small laugh, Shikamaru now had the good grace to grimace at the suggestion. He gestured to the large sofa against the wall, and the three adults sat themselves down. The two women either side of Shikamaru and Shiko happy to sit on Kurenai's lap.

"In love with this lazy guy? Puh-lease… I have offers from nobles in Suna, why would I pick him?" denied Temari loudly, looking away from Shikamaru.

Shikamaru just shook his head in dismay.

'_Better save him before she gets too annoyed'_ thought Kurenai as she tried to hold back a smile, looking over the man's shoulder at Temari, _'she'll either brutalize him or ravish him, even if Shiko is here…'_.

"Actually Shikamaru, we're just on the way to the park. Shiko saw that we were walking past your house and wanted to see you. She wouldn't take no for an answer." Said Kurenai with a smile.

Shikamaru nodded as he spread his arms, inviting Shiko in for a hug that she reciprocated.

"Have you been a good girl for mommy?"

"Yes! I'm always a good girl" came the excited reply.

"That's why we're on the way to the park, because she behaved and didn't make a fuss when she got her inoculations." Explained Kurenai.

"Oh, so you just had those did you?" questioned Shikamaru, a nod was his reply. "You must be a brave girl, seeing those big needles"

Shiko nodded again, this time speaking .

"Yeah, the needle was _this_ big", the small girl extended her arms as far apart as she could.

Shikamaru smiled, "That's great, you stay that brave and I'll see if I can find something special for your birthday"

The girl let out a little cheer as she shuffled over to her mom, hugging the older woman's waist.

"It's good to see you again though Kurenai-sensei, how've things been?" asked Shikamaru, tensing up slightly as Temari put her hand on his shoulder.

Kurenai let out a small breath, "Not too bad, but things have been getting tight recently. A retired jonin's pension gets us through comfortably, but with the amount of food and clothes this girl goes through" she ruffled Shiko's hair "it's been a bit tricky. Fortunately, the pay at the restaurant is good enough and the manager just adores Shiko; she often buys things for her as presents."

She saw the look in Shikamaru's eyes and decided to cut him off straight away.

"Don't you even think about it Shikamaru, I've seen that look before. You asked me for news, this isn't me asking for help"

"Sensei…" said Shikamaru tersely, "if you ever need help, about anything, then you can _always_ come here and ask. For anything.

Temari shook her head in mock exasperation.

"You've been taking lessons from everyone's favourite blonde idiot, haven't you?" said the younger woman. "Kurenai can take care of herself, she's just letting you know. Isn't that right Kurenai?"

Kurenai smiled and nodded.

"This is a girl who understands. Don't you worry yourself Shikamaru, if Shiko is unhappy, I'm sure you'll be the first person to know. She never could lie to you… remember when you asked about who made the mess in your kitchen?"

Shikamaru shuddered slightly, "I remember… that mess was catastrophic. Speaking of which, have the customers at the restaurant still not learnt how to use a napkin?"

Kurenai mimicked Shikamaru's shudder, she had taken a part time job as a waitress at a restaurant to help pay bills and kill time, but the customers were some of the most uncouth eaters she had ever encountered. Even ninja in the field had more table manners than they did.

"Don't remind me about that Shikamaru, I could honestly string them up by their toenails for the messes they make" grumbled the older woman "If they don't learn, they're going to learn that even retired Jonin can use blades."

Temari let out a small gasp, "You wouldn't threaten a civilian for something stupid like that would you?"

Kurenai shook her head, the girl had only known her for a few months and wasn't quite used to her sense of humor.

"Of course not, I'd just cut up their food like I do for Shiko, that way they'd make less mess."

Temari's expression changed to laughter almost too quickly, as if she'd been secretly hoping Kurenai was joking but wasn't sure.

_'She's learning´_ thought Kurenai with a smile

"Well, I don't mean to keep you two away from each other any longer. I really did only drop by to say 'Hi'. I'll be leaving you and your desert princess alone to all that… 'important work'… you have to do around the house." Said Kurenai as she got up, ushering Shiko back towards the door. Before she left, she turned around and gave the two a knowing wink.

Temari blushed slightly at the name, while Shikamaru remembered some of the 'important work' they'd done together before. Kurenai giggled at the looks on their faces, she enjoyed teasing them about it; the two were clearly in love, had a more-than physical relationship but for some reason refused to come clean about it. It was, in all probability, one of the worst-kept secrets in Konoha. Only Hinata's crush on Naruto and Chouji's reason for losing 3 stone in weight were as widely known.

Shikamaru brought himself out his haze before replying, standing up as he did so.

"I'll see you at Shiko's birthday next month. I've got a mission starting the day after tomorrow, but I should be back with time to spare"

Kurenai finished tying Shiko's laces and stood up to face Shikamaru.

"Not a problem, I'm sure she'll love to see you again. Make sure you take care of yourself; and Temari too. I'm sure she needs a big strong man to protect her" teased Kurenai, sticking her tongue out slightly.

Temari snorted from her seat on the sofa, "If I needed a big strong man, I'd pick someone other than a Nara". Shikamaru glared over his shoulder at her, but she glared back just as hard, before turning back to Kurenai and Shiko as they stood outside the door.

"You two have a fun time at the park, take care" said the shadow-user, closing the door.

Turning, he faced the blonde haired woman stretching her legs out on his sofa. His eyes drifted from her feet, bare in the summer heat, up her legs, partly covered by her kimono. The toned muscle of her legs obvious under the thin fabric, his eyes carried on up, eyes meeting her exposed skin just above her cleavage. He admired that skin, darkened by the desert sun, seeing the hints of tan lines under the kimono. Moving further up, he saw her eyes. Those green eyes he noticed for the first time as he fought her in the chunin exams.

"Oi, Nara, what are you staring at" she taunted from her seat, as if asking him to fight back.

"Well, I don't have to behave now the kid's gone, so I'm not sure," said Shikamaru as he stepped slowly towards _his_ sofa. "It could be a teenage girl who got angry because I showed her up." A step "It could be the same girl who saved my bacon on a failed mission" Another step.

"Shika-" started Temari but Shikamaru just kept talking, silencing her with a look.

"It could be the woman who got embarrassed that Naruto saw us walking down the street together" He was finally next to the sofa. He started to lean over the woman. "It could be the woman who came to comfort me after Pain attacked the village"

"I told you, Gaara sent-" she tried again, but still he kept going, his voice changing as he gently but firmly grabbed her wrists.

"It could be the woman who took my first kiss in the back room of her middle brother's 18th birthday party" He slowly raised her wrists above her head, pinning them to the wall behind them. Temari didn't even try to fight him, more interested where this was going. "It could be the woman who took my virginity as her 21st birthday present" He moved his head close to hers, tilting his head to the side slightly.

"Didn't hear you complain" whispered Temari as she closed her eyes.

"Or, it could be the woman who I lo-Mmpphh", Shikamaru was stopped mid-sentence as she leant her head forwards, catching his lips in hers.

The pair stayed like this for a few seconds before separating, Temari grinning slightly and Shikamaru with his mouth still ajar. She felt the tightness on her wrists loosen.

"What? You think I can't read you like a book? Idiot" teased Temari, pulling her wrists from out of his grip and linking her fingers behind his neck. She saw his mouth tighten into a grin as he went forward, capturing her lips a second time and climbing onto the sofa to join her. Him kneeling, legs astride her, as they continued.

"I figured… I had you fooled… this time" said Shikamaru between kisses.

"Never" replied Temari triumphantly, she felt for the zip of the jonin vest he always wore while his hands wander to the obi around her waist, still joined at the lips. "Besides… don't you have… anything to do today?"

"Not a thing… except you" replied Shikamaru, caressing her hips as he searched for the right part of the obi to pull, nearly falling off the sofa trying.

"Do you really… want to do this here…" asked Temari, undoing the zip before guiding his hands to the knot on her obi. _'He never could figure out how I do this… he watches me do it up enough…'_

"Why not?" said Shikamaru, moving his kisses down to her neck as she showed him the right place to pull on that infernal belt. "You can tidy up… later…"

"Me?... oooohhhh Why should I do itttt?" asked the sand ninja as Shikamaru suckled on a spot on her collarbone, pulling the obi apart with one hand, and stroking her back with the other.

"Because," said Shikamaru as he took a breath, "You look amazing in a maid uniform". The young man leant back down, trailing kisses down her collar to the exposed skin where her kimono was opening, taking his jacket off without even looking.

"And what makes you think I'll wear that… oh SAGE!" answered Temari as his kisses found their way to her nipple, a small peck just on the very tip.

"Because…" whispered Shikamaru, moving up to whisper in her ear "I can stop at any time if you don't agree." He let the fingers of his free hand gently rub her chest, occasionally catching on the stiff buds but never stopping for long. Temari let out a small moan every time, each one slowly growing in volume.

"AH! Shika! Stop. The. Teasing!" exclaimed Temari, as he carried on his ministrations. She grabbed the bottom of the fishnet shirt he was wearing and nearly tore it as she pulled it over his head. Swearing in her head as she the contact, she ran her hands down him, one stayed in his hair, grasping for that hairband he kept using while the other explored his front. In a few seconds, she found it and pulled it out, throwing it to one side and letting his hair drop down, covering his face slightly.

Shikamaru changed positions, letting his hands continue their work while he moved towards her ear. He took the lobe into his mouth and bit down gently, eliciting another moan from her.

"Why should I stop the teasing?" He whispered as he eased the pressure off again "It's so much fun to tease a princess" As he said 'princess' he gave her nipple a light squeeze, making the blonde woman squeak in surprise. "Of course, you could always stop me. But Ithink you _like_ me doing this more than the alternative.

"Shikamaru, you are so unfaaiiiiirrr" drawled Temari as one hand moved down even further. With nothing in its way, this hand started to feel the smooth slit, gently rubbing in circles. He felt her breathing increase as he applied this constant rhythm.

"Soo… will you wear that maid outfit for me? Or am I going to be here teasing you for _hours_" he felt her shiver as he emphasised the word "until I get bored? Because you know… I have _all day_"

He could almost hear her breaking as he said those last words.

"Fiiine, jussttttt fiiiniissshhh itttttt" moaned the woman who had been on his case less than an hour earlier.

"Oh no Temari," Shikamaru said, kissing her neck softly as he moved down her body again "You're still going to be here for _hours, _I just won't be teasing you for it."

Shikamaru grinned as she let out a low whimper.

XxX

Shikamaru lay on his bed, hands behind his head and a small smile on his face. He could see the streetlights on outside, telling him he'd had his lazy day. To the right of him, he felt Temari shift slightly in her sleep. Drifting his gaze over to her, he could still see the outline of the maid head piece she had kept wearing after finishing cleaning up. That was all she had been left wearing, cuddling up to his side naked while he had slipped on a pair of boxers.

He closed his eyes, revelling in the feeling of Temari's warm body next to his as he felt himself heading towards sleep.

'_About time… I have to report in for a mission tomorrow.'_ Were his final thoughts as his brain started to relax.

"Wake up, Shikamaru Nara" came a female voice, piercing the relaxed silence of his room.

Bolting upright immediately, he opened his eyes rapidly and grabbed the kunai he kept just under his bed for emergencies. His thoughts immediately swung to the other person laying in his bed.

"Temari! Wake up! Intruder!" yelled Shikamaru, slapping the bump in the covers where her hip was, worried that she hadn't woken yet at his sudden movements.

The woman didn't move or respond as Shikamaru refocused on the source of the noise.

A young woman, possibly only a year or two his junior and half a foot shorter, stood across from him. Although she wore a typical Konoha chunin uniform, her light purple hair and glasses immediately set Shikamaru off. There were no chunin in Konoha like that, regardless of what her forehead protector indicated.

"Who the hell are you? This is Nara property, and for that matter, _my_ room" spat Shikamaru, moving himself between the girl and Temari.

"Inconsequential, you have been identified as a person of note." Spoke the girl in a calm monotone.

"Incosequent-!" Shikamaru started to exclaim before his voice suddenly stopped working.

"You have been silenced to allow the explanation" continued the girl. The ninja ran through several hand seals, trying to use his Shadow Paralysis Technique without having to say the words. He had done it before in practise, and had it down to an art now, but he something was stopping him from moulding his chakra.

'_Why now? I'm not out of chakra, in fact I'm probably full right now… gotta find someone to help… but Temari… I've got to make this girl chase me.'_

Shikamaru's eyes opened in panic as he ran to the door. He turned the handle and pulled hard towards himself. The door wouldn't open. He pulled again and again, his mouth opening in protest, before turning around and running towards the window.

The girl remained still as he leapt at the window, arms and legs brought in to protect his vitals.

There was silence as Shikamaru hit the window and fell to the floor again, the window having not even moved. He looked out of the window and saw two drunks walking down the street, one pushing the other who was walking at an odd angle.

He desperately slammed on the window, trying to make enough noise for them to notice. The pair just continued on their merry way, most likely to the next bar on their list.

'_No… they have to be able to hear me. I'm making such a noise.'_

"This space has been isolated for maximum data flexibility, no data exchange is allowed unless authorized" said the girl, waiting for Shikamaru to turn around. "You were identified as #5 in the multiverse in intellect, #374 for combat ability and #1 for battle tactics. I am now recruiting you for our team."

Overcoming his panic since there was no obvious threat, Shikamaru listened to these terms. Multiverse, data flexibility, exchange, authorized. All words he had never heard in context to ninja duties before. He turned around and looked at the girl

'_She's wearing a Konoha uniform… surely she'll let me speak again' _

Shikamaru pointed at his mouth but the girl shook her head.

"Recruitment is non-optional. This uniform was chosen to ease the culture shock, but no laws implied by it are applicable. Questions may now be asked" the girl said, continuing her near stare as Shikamaru's voice came back him.

"Just who the hell are you, and what are you recruiting me for?" yelled Shikamaru "For fuck sake, Temari, WAKE UP!"

The woman continued to sleep, snoring gently against the pillow.

"A man acting antagonistically to me has started his plan. There must be a response to this or we face the loss of a universe and the safety of the multiverse."

Shikamaru eyed her cautiously again.

"So you're using that as an excuse to invade my home and threaten to kidnap me?" Shikamaru growled, clenching his teeth. "Well, screw you!" Shikamaru lunged forward, fist already in motion for a punch to the girls face.

'_I never liked hitting girls.'_ thought Shikamaru as he waited for impact. He felt none though. Looking back at the girl, his fist was hovering a few inches away from her body, held in place by what looked like an invisible barrier surrounded by blue sparks. He pulled away to face her, cradling his fist to check for injuries.

"You are not being threatened, I am relaying a fact. Help is required or the Integrated Data Sentient Entity will be killed. If the IDSE dies in the universe I have just come from, then every IDSE will die. Including the one in this world. I will then be unable to draw on my abilities, and my opponent will have won. He will control the multiverse. But this plan can only be enacted from the universe where everything joins together, the very core of the multiverse, Namkaga"

Shikamaru listened in interest, hand still holding the kunai in a normal grip, the blade extending past his thumb.

"So how are you here? If the fight is in this Namkaga." He said hostilely.

"It takes a great amount of my own power, but I can travel between universes myself. The enemy, however, doesn't have to; he chose this dimension because of defenders dedicated to his cause. We are the 'invaders' in this fight. Given enough time, he will disable the IDSE. We cannot allow him to have that time." The girl replied, never moving from the position she had been in all this time,

"So if I refuse to help you, what happens? And what happens if I agree?" asked Shikamaru, glancing at Temari still laying asleep on his bed.

"Regardless of your assistance, you will be brought to Namkaga. Refuse to cooperate and you will be left alone until either my enemy or I win. Upon my victory, you will be restored to your own universe. If my enemy wins, the multiverse will be destroyed. There are limits to my power; I can only recruit so many people, a single spot cannot be wasted or replaced. You have already been chosen. If you agree, then you will enjoy the benefits of experiencing a world unlike any other, learning from the type of people you will never meet again and finding new uses for your energy and, more so than ever before, you can make a difference."

"And what about Temari, and my world?" asked Shikamaru.

"When we arrive in Namkaga, it's data will remain stationary. As will hers." Was the bland reply.

"So she'll be safe?"

"Correct."

Shikamaru heaved a sigh of relief and resignation.

"Fine… I'll help you. But if a single hair on her head is harmed, I will find you through all those universes you talk about, and I will kill you," warned Shikamaru as he threw the kunai to the floor.

"Understood" said the girl, stepping over to him and grabbing his hand. He looked around at the woman he loved one last time.

"Temari…"

The room was, for an instant, filled with bright light and then the shinobi and the strange girl were gone.

XxX

In a dark office, lights started flashing on every available surface as siren's started to blast their tones everywhere. The office itself was huge, easily the size of an auditorium. Two walls were taken up by various computer components, a third contained all the doors to the room and the final wall was taken up by a series of large monitors.

Men and women started to scramble into the room in various forms of sleeping wear, taking up positions on the various computers with practiced routine. Row after row of computer terminals were filled, each one with workspace and facing the screen wall. Barely anyone looked up at the famous three seats in front of the monitors, or the large, round desk that connected them. They were used to it.

Each chair had a figure sat in it; an imposing man in a dark blue suit and red long sleeved shirt filled the right chair, while a man in leather trousers, a haramaki and a large blue coat with a sunglasses wearing dragon on the back sat on the left seat, and finally a young man wearing a crisp white uniform of trousers and a zip up jacket was in the centre.

"So… another change in dimensional balance. The Traveller has brought someone else into our midst" announced the right-most of the figures, his suit looking perfectly ironed, as if he had been awake and ready for just another business meeting.

"Now now, be nice; we shall remain kind and courteous, until we crush her and her group" the man in the centre chided, before adding "Would anyone like a candy?" to everyone in the room as he withdrew a large jar of candies from a drawer in his desk.

Several people, still drowsy, in sleepwear at the computers raised their hands. The figure threw several candies to each person, some hitting the person if they were too tired to catch them. Some tried to catch the candies, but were too slow and grasping air as a candy met their face.

The figure who threw the candies let out a small laugh before addressing the room again, turning his seat around to address them.

"Sorry to have you all out of bed so late, but destruction of one's enemies has no set schedule!" sung the figure cheerily.

"You do realise that destruction will always be my last priority… to stop them using _that_ is my objective and the objective of my brigade." warned the man on the left, sitting calmly in his chair, slightly amused at the formers antics.

"Yes, of course I understand Simon, I appreciate that you chose us. It'd be such a shame if you sided with the enemy and we had to crush you." Said the man in white; leaning back on his large leather office chair and popping a candy into his mouth.

"Sir!" called one of the women on the front row. "We now have a rough estimate of the enemy base's location. The emergence signature came from inside Western Namkaga."

The man in the blue suit looked over at the woman before turning away in disgust.

"Now now Gendo, just because you can't send your giant machines to destroy their base doesn't mean you're going to be left out. I seem to recall you having a large amount of skilled ground troops no?" Said the candy-eater. "Thanks for the information Miss… Haru right? You can leave and go back to sleep if you want. I'm sure the Baron is missing you."

The addressed woman got up and left, nearly tripping up on her pyjama pant's leg as she walked out. The man then turned back to continue his conversation with Gendo.

"You may be right, but the general operations of my organisation requires a large workforce. They are those skilled troops" confirmed Gendo

"Aww, shame, looks like we'll have to leave this one to Simon" said the man, adding another candy to his mouth "Oooh, blueberry"

"That's fine by me, but it'd be better for us if we could somehow get them into Eastern Namkaga. My brigade is currently there, and mobilising them all is _very_ obvious. The enemy'll be gone before we get there."

"Well, I'll leave that to you" said the man, "If you can do that, then by all means do it in the east. But I want their heads… yes… Hey Gendo, would you like to watch a Bunraku with real heads showing our glorious victory?"

The blue suited man got up from his chair and started walking to the door, not dignifying the jest with a response.

"Do whatever you like, but remember our agreement, Byakuran," called out Gendo over his shoulder as he neared the door.

"Oh of course, the deal will be upheld, don't you worry about that" replied Byakuran with a smile.

Gendo nodded once and carried on walking out.

"So Simon, do you want to get going? I'm sure your advisors would like some time to plan and the sooner they're all dead, the better!" said Byakuran, the last part in a singsong voice.

"Yeah, I guess you're right. Damn it… now I have to wake Leeron up…" The leader of the Dai Gurren Dan groaned, a frown on his face at the concept.

Byakuran laughed as he saw the almost childish frown on the grown man's face.

"I remember him," added Byakuran with a large grin on his face "A little crazy, but all geniuses are. You should cut him some slack"

Simon got up as well, moving across the room to the nearest door.

"Yeah, you're right, I'll see you at the next meeting Byakuran"

"Indeed, Simon the Digger"

As Simon walked out, Byakuran small smile turned into a full blown grin. His cheeks rose high and his gums ever so slightly exposed. Reaching under his table again, he pulled out a small gun. Too small to fire a real bullet and each of the people working the computers knew that.

"Now everyone, EVERYONE!" yelled Byakuran as he stood up. "We're going to play a fun drinking game… but because I don't have any alcohol with me, we'll be playing it with _this_" He said as he indicated the gun. Immediately, a loaded silence fell over the room. "The game is called 'No Daddy No'. You all know roman numerals yes?" He didn't wait for an answer.

"Good. I'll be going to you each in turn, and you have to tell me the right combination of words to match your number. The letter I is 'No', the letter V is 'Daddy' and the letter X is 'Don't Touch Me'. So if you were the number seventeen, the roman numerals are XVII. This would be 'Don't touch me daddy no no' Got it?" Again, he didn't wait for a response "Excellent! Now, let's go!"

The man leapt forward, pointing the gun at the woman at the end of the first row. Luckily, the people on the front row caught wind quickly and the 'game' began, each person looking around, trying to work out their number in advance. Byakuran made it harder for them, skipping rows and then doubling back on himself to mess with them.

"Isn't this FUN?" yelled the dimension hopper as he rounded on one woman sitting on the end of a corner, the sleep deprivation having gotten to her and she had fallen asleep. He pointed the gun squarely in her direction. Walking up to her silently, he was right beside her when he yelled at her.

"TWENTY-SIX!"

The woman jerked awake instantly at the loud noise. She looked around and saw the gun pointed straight at her and his hand out to nudge her awake.

"DON'T TOUCH ME, DON'T TOUCH ME! DADDY! NOOOOOOOOOOO!" yelled the woman as she curled up in a ball.

Byakuran looked stunned for a moment as the woman's screaming slowed to a halt. She looked through her arms at Byakuran, her eyes being all that was visible.

"Well… you played the game right" said Byakuran, "BUT NOW YOU'VE WOKEN EVERYBODY UP!"

He pulled the trigger. An unnaturally loud bang followed as the small weapon went off.

As Byakuran had yelled, everyone had looked away, no one willing to look at the inevitable mess. The loud thump as the woman hit the floor was enough to make the weaker stomached workers throw up at their stations and into the wastepaper baskets.

Byakuran sulkily walked back to the front to his chair. He sat down turned to the computer console, pressing a few buttons.

The giant screen changed from its standby image of all the systems' diagnostics to a television station. An ever too smiley woman was mixing a bowl of what looked like frosting in a well-stocked and roomy kitchen.

"Everyone likes baking shows, don't they?" called Byakuran over his shoulder to the computer staff, spinning in his chair to get a good position for the show.

He got no response.

"Good"

XxX

"Daaaah!" exclaimed Shikamaru as his rubbed his eyes. The light emitted when that girl had grabbed his hand had dazzled him.

"Hey! Miss Boss! Is this the new guy you were talking about?" came a loud male voice, Shikamaru tried to locate the sound before he felt someone grab both of his shoulders and start shaking him. "He's so brave, look at him, he went through recruiting in his boxers! Is he our new secret weapon?"

The shaking had brought Shikamaru's arms away from his, letting him look at the person shaking him. A guy around his age, medium length spiky brown hair dressed in a black blazer and pants with a red undershirt. On his arm he had a band, with the kanji for 'Senior' on it, surrounded by a green diamond.

He pushed this guy away, backing away until he bumped into someone else; seeing the girl that brought him here sit down on a sofa, he knew it wasn't her.

"Hey kid, have some shame" came a deeper voice from behind him. Shikamaru turned around, and had to look directly up. It was an older man; looking to be in his early thirties, wearing a large white cape with a collar that was taller than his head. Underneath, he wore a blue gi top and black martial artist zubon, held up by a white obi. At his side, he kept what Shikamaru saw was a classic katana. Made for a samurai, like the men from the Country of Iron.

Shikamaru looked around him, familiarising himself with the environment for the first time. He was in the living room of a large flat house. Sofas were spread around so that they all focussed on a black box attached to the wall; a kitchenette area was off to the side, big enough for several people to cook in at the same time comfortably. He saw one particularly solid door opposite the kitchenette, while another lead down a corridor to what he assumed was the bedrooms.

Finally, he looked outside the window into the night and was shocked at what he saw.

"Are we flying? What kind of technique is this?" asked Shikamaru, approaching the window. "How can a house be this high?"

The older man pushed the younger one forward as they both walked to the window as well.

"This is an apartment man; it's like lots of single storey houses stacked on top of each other..." explained the young man. "But if you're going to stay in boxers, you may want to step away from the window. People will see you and we could do without bringing the fuzz around here."

"The fuzz… ?" asked Shikamaru, before noticing that he _was_ still in his boxers. "Hey, girl, why didn't you tell me to get dressed first?"

"Oh man, did she do _that_ to convince you to join us?" asked the young man, snickering to himself.

Shikamaru was nearly ready to explode, confusion and annoyance were building up in him.

"Right… Where are some clothes? I want to get dressed, and then an explanation of where I am… Now." asked Shikamaru, his tone even but his intent clear.

"All the clothes from the wardrobe in your bedroom were transferred here when you arrived. Feel free to dress while the others arrive. Your room is at the end." Said the purple haired girl quietly.

Shikamaru nodded and walked down the corridor that he, correctly, assumed was for bedrooms. On the way, he passed 3 doors on either side of the corridor as well as another corridor that headed left away from the living room. Reaching the door, he quickly and quietly checked it for traps, as was his habit. Finding nothing, he entered and looked around.

The room itself was sizeable, painted white and bigger than the one he had in his house. A large bed was in the corner with a bedside cabinet beside it. A large window was opposite the end of the bed with black curtains to close at night. Aside from the wardrobe beside the door, there wasn't much else in the room.

'_I suppose I have to fill it myself'_ thought Shikamaru as he opened the wardrobe, finding everything in this as he left it in his world.

Dressing himself in his black pants and black jumper, he slid his old chunin jacket back on and attached his kunai and shuriken holster. He checked himself in a mirror he found attached to the inside of the wardrobe before heading back down towards the living room.

'_Shame… I left my jonin jacket back on my living room floor. At least my chunin jacket still fits.'_

As he walked, he heard more voices, one very gruff and masculine while the other was clearly female but stern.

"So who's this kid? You say he's meant to be some super genius, but he's a kid from some military village, how smart can he be?" said the female voice.

"Oi, Kitty, stop badmouthing military intelligence. I came through the military education system and I'm fine."

"You call me 'Kitty' again and we'll see how far that intelligence gets you." replied the woman icily.

At this point Shikamaru entered the room, observing the new people sitting on opposite sofas as they each regarded him. The young girl who brought him here was sat next to the tall samurai

The woman was a slight, young woman, older than him but not by much, dressed in a pair of black hakama, a black shirt tied by a thin white obi and covered by a sleeveless haori tied with a thick yellow obi. Her blue hair was cut short except for two long covered braids tied down her back, each ending in a metal ring.

The man was much different; he was dressed in a puffy white jacket with a fur lining, lined with cigars almost like body armor. Underneath, he wore no shirt, but a pair of jeans and a thick brown belt. His head was partially obscured by the smoke from the two cigars he had in his mouth, but Shikamaru could see a grizzled face and slicked back white hair.

Shikamaru silently nodded to each one, each returning the gesture as he sat down, finding a seat next to the teenage guy who had assaulted him a few minutes ago.

"So what's your name then dude?" asked the teenager "My name is Kazuki Muto, and I'm pleased to meet ya!" He outstretched his hand to Shikamaru

Shikamaru looked at him before taking the hand in his and shaking it.

"Shikamaru Nara"

"Seijuuro Hiko the 13th" The large swordsman nodded at him. "It's a pleasure to meet you Shikamaru Nara, now that you're dressed."

"Soifon, Captain of the Gotei 13's second squad and leader of the Stealth Forces." Announced the woman with the blue hair.

Shikamaru turned, almost involuntarily to the bare chested man. The man sighed before copying the others.

"Commodore Smoker of the Marines"

"Yuki Nagato" the emotionless voice sounded from the door.

That last line surprised Shikamaru, turning towards the young girl.

"You wanted answers, feel free to ask questions. Tomorrow is just another day, but the other members will help you as best they can." Said Yuki, looking at each person in the room.

"So… ask."

XxX


	2. Introduction: Part 2

Introduction: Part Two

XxX

Shikamaru eyed the purple haired girl who had spoken; clearly unpleased with the current situation, even now that he was dressed.

'_Where can I even start… the amount of gibberish these people are spouting is unreal. This place just shouldn't exist… '_

Shikamaru took a deep breath to clear his head, before directing his first question at Yuki.

"What is this place? In a literal sense, I know this is Namkaga but _what_ is Namkaga?" asked the ninja, trying to get the big questions out of the way first.

"Namkaga is the name of this universe. The place you are currently situated is the Western District of Namkaga City. Namkaga is the centre of the entire multiverse, so elements of all possible universes are present." Replied the small girl

"What do you do? What do _we_ do?" replied Shikamaru, shaking his head in irritation.

Yuki looked over at Kazuki and gave a small nod. Kazuki then turned towards Shikamaru and tried to explain.

"Well dude, the city is huge. Like, really big. It's so big that it's into five districts, North, East, South, West and Central. We're in the West right now; it's pretty much a big ol' typical city. Shops, houses, schools." Explained the teen, making vague pointing directions with his hands. "Now, the North has all the really high tech shops. It's like living a couple of decades in the future from where I'm from. You can buy pretty much anything there, it's just gonna be expensive. East is really green, parks everywhere man, lots of people hanging out to do all sorts of sports or picnicking or whatnot. I guess there are even a couple of groups full of old-timers who do stuff like chess, it's a lively district. And Central is where all the businesses are, it's really damn boring there. Every building is a bank or library or some hotshot lawyer office."

Shikamaru nodded, for all it's lack of detail, Kazuki had given a fairly good idea of the basic layout. One thing stuck in his mind though.

'_Chess? What's that? He talks about this 'chess' like the others back home talked about shogi… maybe it's a similar game.'_ He spoke up another thought though.

"And what about the South District? You didn't mention it"

"Can't tell you what I don't know." Kazuki shrugged, "Never had a reason to go there. Doesn't look like a great place though. Anything else about the city you want to know?"

Shikamaru nodded again. His mind already working, he voiced the first obvious thought.

"Why don't we just lure the enemy outside the city and then kill them there? Civilian casualties would be minimal."

Kazuki looked baffled for a moment before looking back at Yuki. She gave a small nod before turning to Shikamaru.

'_She likes to nod a lot'_ noted the Nara unceremoniously, _'at least she doesn't shout every possible thought'_

"We are unable to leave the city; the extent of my ability for temporal manipulation of data limits our range of action. For Byakuran's plan to proceed, he must remain within the city limits."

'_Byakuran…' _from the way Yuki said his name, Shikamaru instantly categorized the name as dangerous.

"So who is this Byakuran? And why does he have to remain in the city limits?"

Yuki again answered the question; at this point Smoker and Hiko had stopped really listening, the commodore offering the samurai one of his cigars. The older man refused the cigar with a raised hand and closed his eyes. Smoker shrugged his shoulders and put the second cigar in his mouth to add to the one already in there. He then pulled out a match and lit both, taking a puff and blowing smoke from the corners of his mouth. Shikamaru noticed it from the corner of his eye, using it to add to the data he had off his new teammates. Any habit and fact was important after all.

The military man let out a content sigh, enjoying the flavour in his mouth as Yuki explained.

"Byakuran is the man who opposes me. He is evil of the highest magnitude. He must stay within the city limits because this city is the closest point to the IDSE in this universe. If he leaves it, the IDSE will repair immediately from any damage caused. It is currently estimated for him to take 2 years to decay the IDSE into an inoperable state."

Shikamaru took a moment to let that sink in.

'_So he can't leave or the IDSE recovers immediately…'_

"Surely it would be best to make him leave the city, and then keep him from entering again right?"

Soifon responded this time, "If we knew where he was, I would have killed him already. The bastard sends in proxies to fight for him… damn coward."

"Proxies?" asked Shikamaru.

"You know… proxies, people to fight for him. He's already got a couple of teams on his side and is getting more quickly." Butted in Kazuki "Last time we got into a fight, I ended up getting chased by a woman in her underwear…"

Any reminiscing he was having stopped when he saw the glowering look Soifon was giving him.

"She seemed used to fighting that way though, either she's a foxy boxer or that's her uniform." Seeing the disbelieving look Soifon was giving him, he continued, "I'm not kidding, you should have seen the things she was doing with that gun."

"Gun?" Shikamaru frowned as he asked, it seemed to be a common term but he had no idea what it meant.

Kazuki looked at him oddly, "Yeah, gun, you know, long metal thing with a trigger you pull, fires smaller metal things at what you point it at." He answered with a note of 'Duh' in his voice.

Shikamaru just kept a blank face.

"Huh?"

Kazuki palmed his face with both hands.

"So you've never heard of guns? Pistols, rifles, 'nade launchers, snipers, submachine, light machine?"

Shikamaru remained confused at the terms Kazuki was listing, he had never heard of anything quite like it. He shook his head and the other teen groaned in frustration.

"Oh boy… Listen, boss-lady, it's like 3am. Can we go to sleep for now; I'll take Shukamare to a park tomorrow and go through the tedious shit by showing him?" asked Kazuki, yawning for emphasis.

"It's Shikamaru…" interrupted the teen in question.

"Ok, I'll take _Shikamaru_ to the park tomorrow and go through the tedious shit?" acknowledged Kazuki. "Come on boss-lady, if the universe he's from doesn't have guns, showing him the world has to be better than telling him"

All eyes were on Yuki, some tired, others uncaring and all curious. After a few minutes deliberation, she gave her answer.

"Accepted, Kazuki will teach Shikamaru about this universe tomorrow. He must be battle ready by tomorrow evening and culturally up to date within a week. This is an objective."

With that, she slunk back into her chair and closed her eyes. Kazuki nudged Shikamaru and muttered to him "That's her way of saying we can go," as he got up and headed towards the corridor. As he reached the door he beckoned Shikamaru forward with an excited hand, but the older teen waved him on. Kazuki tried to think of something to say but ended up shrugging and walking down the corridor. The other three were soon following him, leaving Shikamaru and Yuki in the living room. Shikamaru focussed himself on the girl, putting his elbows on his knees and his hands under his chin.

"So why me? Why not Naruto, or Kakashi, Tsunade, Gai, any of those are better ninja than me." Asked Shikamaru

"I already stated the reason Shikamaru Nara: you ranked #1 in the multiverse for battle tactics. I need the best, and you will be my tactician." Replied the girl without opening her eyes.

"But all of those have seen more battles than me, more experienced… Naruto took down a freaking army by himself two years ago… what do you think he can do now?"

"I am not incorrect Shikamaru Nara, your contribution to the team is tactics. This is a team gathered from the multiverse. Do you think that the people you know are the strongest to exist or to have existed?"

Shikamaru paused at that. He was still thinking like there was only one universe… and this girl had told, and proven to, him that there were an infinite amount of universes. She was right, any number of those universes could contain people stronger than he could ever imagine. He sighed and bowed his head.

"I'm see Yuki… you're right."

Yuki nodded again, "You will be my tactician, Shikamaru Nara, you're already proving I made the right choice."

Shikamaru looked at her, before shaking his head and getting up. He headed towards the corridor door before turning and addressing Yuki once more.

"Goodnight Yuki,"

With that, he turned back around and headed down the corridor to his room. He saw lights under the three doors to the left of his and the one closest to the living room on the right.

'_Everyone is probably getting ready to sleep…' _Shikamaru thought as he yawned to himself _'And I should be too… damn I'm tired.'_

He carried on walking down the corridor and entering his room before locking the small deadbolt behind him.

'_Not that that'll keep anyone out… just a minor privacy thing'_

Within moments Shikamaru was standing in nothing but his boxers again. Lifting the duvet and getting into the bed, he found that the bed was rather nice. The mattress was a little soft for his tastes but not uncomfortably so. He did miss the familiar sensation of weapons scattered around his bed, but that was a problem he'd fix another day. Closing his eyes, he felt himself re-entering sleep. Enjoying that simple feeling, he let himself fall into slumber.

XxX

Gendo Ikari's office was quiet, per usual. He had had it soundproofed, bullet-proofed, bombproofed and had even had it coated so that angels wouldn't be able to see it. He had also seen fit to add several high security locks to the door. No one could see him, hear him or disturb him. Not even Fuyutsuki-sensei was able to get in, despite his high clearance and penchant for appearing where he wasn't wanted.

In this quiet peace, with no one around, he could hear the thuds of the heavy sandbag echo nicely. The sound of his glove-covered hands hitting the hard surface felt good; the dull pain as he did a few combos was making itself known. With the lack of angel attacks, or similar high-stress situations that required Gendo's immediate attention, he had recently adopted a new form of stress relief.

Finishing his combos, he returned the heavy bag to it's hidden spot behind a wall panel. He hadn't exerted himself enough to sweat, but was breathing heavily for a few minutes. Sitting down at his desk, he looked over notes from his field agents while he waited for his breathing to normalise.

"So… he frequents 'Sweet Dreams'?" he murmured, looking at the accompanying pictures of his target entering the shop. The target was very well disguised, but his agents were good.

Changing reports, he saw the latest sync test results for the pilots.

'_Hmm… Shinji's ratio hasn't improved at all in the last month. Misato will hear about this. Rei and Ms Sohryu are sufficient so far, I'll have Akagi push them next time.'_

He flipped the page over casually, reading the diagnostic report on the Evangelions.

'_Unit 00 at 100%, Unit 01 at 89% but operational within 3 hours, Unit 02 at 100%; In an emergency, we can sortie Units 00 and 02 while we wait for Unit 01 to be complete… It's too slow… I'll have a word with the mechanics..._ _All Evangelions should be at 100% within an hour of re-entry_._'_ Gendo thought, considering what he could do to make the repairs quicker.

He nearly closed the report when a final page caught his eye. On a scrap of paper with no official header was a few figures and a note. Gendo read it contemplatively.

**Evangelions vs Gurren Lagann, estimates of survival chances fluctuate from 100% to 0%. Dependant on mental state of pilots, both sides.**

'_Damn it… those children with their toys don't make any sense.'_

Gendo got up from his desk and headed wastepaper bin, making sure to lock the official documents in their appropriate place beforehand. He took that hand scribbled note, pulled out a lighter, and lit it on fire, dropping it into the metal bin to finish burning. He then headed to the door, stopping only briefly to make sure the fire burnt out. As it did, he opened the door and left, locking it securely behind him.

XxX

*Bang*Bang*Bang*

The sound of hammers on metal resonated throughout the large hanger; the hanger could fit military aircrafts but was currently used for an entirely different reason. Lined up against its walls were various different mecha. Huge goliaths of metal, cockpits open and waiting for their pilots to activate them.

Simon walked across the hanger, his presence unheeded by the man he was approaching. Short green hair, a blue jumpsuit and purple sleeveless jacket clothed the man, who was currently working on what looked like a large angular boomerang, easily twenty foot wide and ten foot long. The man was on his knees, crawling over the boomerang to reach every part of it.

"Oh, did that nasty nasty man let you get beaten up baby? Well I'll have to have words with that bonehead, he can't be doing this to you. Letting your sunglasses get broken?" babbled the man, seemingly to the boomerang itself.

"Hey, Leeron, I was just gonna wake you up" called Simon while he was still a fair distance away. "We've got a miss-"

"I know" came an accusing tone from the man still kneeling over the boomerang, "One of your boss's little minions sent me a message to expect you…"

Leeron threw Simon his phone, an official looking message talking about 'Duty' and 'Sacrifices needed'. Simon put his hand behind his head, looking sheepish before trying his best to calm the situation.

"Heh heh, sorry Ron, I didn't think they'd call you so soon. I was gonna let you stay asleep till the morning but apparently they really do want this plan done _now_"

Leeron huffed as he listened before replying in an angry voice. His hammering becoming slightly more loud as he did so.

"This isn't good enough Simon, I'm a mechanic, not some strategic genius… that's what Sir Chesthair is for."

Simon put his hand to his face, he hated it when Leeron got like this.

"Look Ron, I am really sorry. I don't know why Byakuran insists you take part in the planning process… maybe it's 'cause you're the best damn mechanic we have, you can tell us what plans are doable with which Gunmen. You're also the one who had to modify them for any odd plans. Face it Leeron, without you fixing us up, we'd be hopeless" pleaded Simon, his face serious but earnest.

Leeron turned to face Simon for the first time since he had entered, saw his face and crawled off the boomerang, sighing as he went.

"My my, it's been a long time since Simon the Digger showed us that face, hasn't it? Well… I'll forgive you this time, but don't expect it often." Offered Leeron, picking up a rag he had available to wipe his hands. "So what's the mission this time?"

"Taking on that team of the Silent Princess again…" Simon braced for an expression of pure anger to rush over him.

"Again? Doesn't he have another organisation with much bigger and crazier Gunmen than us? I mean, I've literally _just_ finished repairing Gurren's sunglasses." The rage he expected was more like confusion. Leeron threw the rag down and the two started to walk towards the entrance to the office section of their base.

"Ah, this isn't a destruction mission. This is more like recon. We find what this team's new member is like, hopefully some abilities too. No civilian casualties, no unnecessary deaths. _That _is how my Dai Gurren Dan rolls."

Simon seemed to be posing as he walked. Leeron chuckled to himself as he watched the display.

"Any ideas then? If we're not after destruction, we probably shouldn't send Attenborough."

"No… he can stay on long range radar for now, I'm considering Jorgun and Balinbow, the two are good at following orders and won't use much spiral energy. If it's just for recon, it might be worth sending Bro and Yoko… they work well together, Bro can lure this person out and handle short range, while Yoko can handle long range and trying to get them to show their abilities."

At this, Leeron got an annoyed look on his face.

"So if you already had a plan, why are we having this meeting again? You know whenever you make a plan, you pull it off"

Simon smiled a little sadly before explaining, putting his hand on the wall they'd just reached.

"My plans revolve on me using spiral energy to go kick logic to the curb… but that's not the right way to fight. The Anti-spirals are no longer around, so we don't need that power anymore… Why d'ya think I'm working with Byakuran? I don't want that power used anymore; I can't control it when I do. So I trust everyone in the Dai Gurren Dan to help create a plan that doesn't involve it. And that includes you Leeron"

Leeron nodded briefly, touching the button to open the door.

"Understood, Leader." He said as he walked through, followed quickly by Simon.

XxX

"HEY, SHIKAMAZU! WAKE UP!"

Shikamaru was roused into consciousness by a loud yelling from outside his door. He heard the misspelling of his name and sighed.

'_I know my name is a little long, but how hard is it to remember?'_

"Ok Kazuki, I'll be dressed in a seeeeeeec" drawled Shikamaru, yawning on the last word. "What is the style here like? In my village, my ninja uniform was sufficient, but here is probably different."

"You're a ninja? Damn, that is a badass! You gotta show me how to turn invisible later!" yelled Kazuki back through the door excitedly.

"Hey, hey, hey, Kazuki… clothes, is my uniform ok?"

"Yeah, that's fine, everyone here dresses relatively oddly, so I don't think anyone will care."

Shikamaru nodded to himself, dragging himself out of bed into the cool air. Looking out of the window, making a mental note to shut the curtains in future, he saw it was almost afternoon. Shivering slightly as he yawned again, he pulled on his usual uniform before walking out of his door to join Kazuki. The younger teen was wearing the same style uniform he wore yesterday, but this one looked fresh and ironed. Shikamaru took a curious look down at himself, his own uniform being the same level of perfection.

"Umm… why are our clothes perfectly clean?" asked Shikamaru, gesturing down to his uniform.

Kazuki grinned, "Perk of the job, that wardrobe cleans any clothes you put into it and makes 'em look great. Yuki says something about how 'representatives must appear as such', but all I know is that I don't have to wash or iron my clothes. Which is _awesome._"

Shikamaru nodded his agreement and started walking towards the living room.

'_That's quite good, I hate washing clothes.'_

"So are you ready to see this world?" buzzed Kazuki, ready to get out, making Shikamaru wonder if maybe he'd been locked in the living room for a while now. "Trust me, you're gonna love it here… but before we leave, do you mind telling me a little about where you're from? So I know what to explain and what's the same? We don't have much time for teaching ya know?"

Shikamaru nodded, tossing a thumb in the direction of the sofas. Kazuki nodded and the two sat down on sofas next to each other.

"So… tell me about your universe. If you're a ninja, it must be pretty awesome" asked Kazuki, leaning back in the seat and looking at the ceiling.

Shikamaru nodded and leaned back himself, admiring the swirls in the white plaster of the ceiling.

"My universe is one where the major military force is ninja. Many, many ninja. There are five main villages and a couple of lesser ones in different countries on the continent and each country is run by a Daimyo, but those big five are the main employers in nearly every way. Nearly everything a ninja does focuses on using their Chakra, our… energy, to do techniques. It's used to enhance physical strength, stick to walls, even breathe fire or control sand… it pretty much does everything. We pretty much only use these techniques or a few bladed weapons. Kunai and shuriken, that kind of thing. A few ninja decide to use special weapons, but those are all specialists and relatively rare. Other than that, that's pretty much my universe. We have stuff like hospitals, restaurants, shops of all kinds. But these 'guns' are unheard of… I've never seen something that can fire weapons faster than a ninja can dodge, so we normally don't use them."

Kazuki nodded to himself, slowly understanding what kind of level Shikamaru's universe was on.

"I get ya now, if you have a Daimyo as a leader then in my universe you'd be about two hundred years behind everyone, but this chakra of yours is different. In my universe, we have alchemy. Alchemic weapons manifest from these big medallions called Kakugane. The weapon's themselves are called Busou Renkin, which is just another way of saying alchemic weapon." Explained Kazuki, "But I have an idea what kind of knowledge you have now, so taking you into the city shouldn't be too bad. You just have to follow my lead and ask questions quietly. People are generally kinda meh here, but don't like out of towners much."

Kazuki half jumped off the seat before calling to Shikamaru.

"C'mon Shika, let's show you the park first. You might like it there, might remind you of home."

That small comment stuck with Shikamaru as Kazuki dragged him out of the door and down several flights of stairs.

'_It's been one night and I already miss everyone…'_

As they walked through a small courtyard to a gate, Kazuki started murmuring to remember the directions.

"Ok… its turn right and keep going till you reach the station" muttered Kazuki to himself, keeping an eye on the ninja behind him. "Keep up dude; don't want you to get lost. Yuki hasn't given you a tracker yet, so no straying till she gives you one."

Being addressed snapped Shikamaru out of his trance.

"Tracker?"

"Little electronic thing, lets her know where we all are." Answered Kazuki, showing Shikamaru a set of keys with a small coin attached to them. "Here's mine, but everyone has something a bit a different. I don't know how it runs though… maybe a little battery or something."

The pair carried on walking down the main street, Shikamaru quietly looking around himself, absorbing all of details of the buildings. Several more apartment buildings were next to the main street where they were currently walking; about a hundred metres ahead of them, he could see storefronts offering things he didn't know of for prices that didn't think seemed quite right.

"Computers… Video Games… _fitness equipment_… what are these things?"

"Well… computers are like the biggest thing in this world at the moment. They all run off electricity, you had that right?" a nod lets him continue. "And using the internet, we connect to people all across the city. In the case of my universe, we could cross the entire world. Any information you could possibly want it out there and needs to be found. Video games are a bit different, they're just a fun thing to do. Imagine a book, but you have to control the main character through all the events that happen, that's pretty much a video game. Fun, a timesink, but pointless eventually. I personally like Reversi Online, a game based on a manga. And fitness equipment is for people who want to get fitter while not leaving their own home. I guess in a military village, fitness equipment is pretty standard, but a lot of jobs here are pretty much 'sit down, shut up, type on computer' stuff. People want to get some exercise but might not want to pay gym membership or leave their house."

Kazuki about finished his explanation as they reached a plaza. Opposite them, a large building with a lot of large windows faced them at an odd angle. A large sign above the doorway read 'Western Namkaga – Byakko' in a plain font. Kazuki started to nudge Shikamaru towards the door, listening to the genius in the process.

"And what about these prices? They seem way too low… 200… dollars… for what seems to be fairly high technology."

"High? 200 dollars for a game console is about right… OH… what money system did you use?" Kazuki asked, stopping just before the large door, stepping to the side so he didn't get in anyone's way.

"Ryo, I used to earn around fifty thousand ryo for a basic mission. The highest I ever got was nearly two hundred million… for permanently disabling someone thought to be immortal."

"Woah… even with the conversion rate that's big money… Ya see; Old man Hiko used Ryo too. We worked it out to 100 ryo being worth 1 dollar. So you got paid 500 dollars for a basic mission… not bad stuff. And by standards like that here, you'd be a millionaire with that… was it a mission?"

"Bounty reward"

"You had bounties? Ah damn man; your world sounds too awesome."

Shikamaru breathed out sharply, his annoyance reaching a limit he didn't even know he had.

'_What does this guy know about my world?'_

Kazuki stopped, noticing that Shikamaru was acting different to before.

"Hey man are you ok?" asked Kazuki, putting his hand on Shikamaru's shoulder.

"Now listen Kazuki, my world was _not_ awesome. Stop saying it was." Shikamaru turned to look at Kazuki dead in the eyes. "People who we cared about died in the stupidest ways. Five of my closest friends nearly died to save a traitor to our country, my sensei _did_ die trying while fighting for our team's lives. The man I killed for that bounty was already a highly ranked criminal, and I was a lazy ass, but murdering my sensei made _me_ take it seriously. Are you hearing me Kazuki? In my world, I had to fight and defeat _immortals_ just so my friends would live to see another day. Do you understand that fighting is not _awesome_ when you have to do it just to _live_?" said Shikamaru calmly, his eyes glancing into the distance as he spoke, remembering the fights he'd had by the time he was fifteen.

Kazuki looked a little scared as he released Shikamaru from his grip. He then put his eyes to the floor before apologising.

"Sorry Shikamaru, it's just that my world was always so tedious by comparison. I got up, went to school and fought with monsters in my spare time. There's been a huge boom in the popularity of ninjas and pirates because of the internet, and I guess I just got carried away… I really hope you'll forgive me!" Kazuki half yelled the final bit before bowing deeply to Shikamaru.

Shikamaru blushed before quickly trying to get him to rise.

"Ok fine, you're forgiven for this, just get up and understand that it _isn't_ an awesome world."

Kazuki rose from his bow and grinned at Shikamaru.

"Thanks Shika, now come on in, I'm gonna show you how this _is_ an awesome world."

Kazuki led Shikamaru inside, letting Shikamaru look around. The lobby was enormous, boards hanging from the ceiling displayed times of trains arriving and their destinations, changing at a second's notice to display more times. Lines of strange machines were embedded in the walls, which Kazuki was walking towards.

Once they reached the machines, Kazuki motioned for Shikamaru to come close. The machine had a series of numbers on it, labelled 0-9 but that was all, a few slots were obvious on the face of the machine but only one was directly open

"Since I have _this_" said Kazuki, pulling out a small blue piece of plastic, no writing or designs on it, just a bright cyber blue, and exactly the right size for the open slot. "There's only one thing we need to get"

Kazuki quickly pressed the screen where it said 'Infinite Pass', selected quantity of one and then inserted the blue card into the machine. The machine's screen changed to be an image of an hourglass ticking over.

"This'll only take a sec; I'm getting you a lifetime train pass. You'll be able to use the trains for free forever."

With a whirr, the machine gave Kazuki the blue card back as well as a black ticket of similar size. Kazuki then gave this ticket to Shikamaru.

"Now keep this safe, it won't be traced back to you but it's a pain to convince Yuki to give you another one." warned Kazuki as he pulled his own out of his pocket while placing the blue card inside.

"How did you just afford this? I saw at least four zeros on that machine!" whispered Shikamaru loudly.

Kazuki just grinned again, "Perks, it's a Data Manipulation Card: Version Currency, but it's only valid for me and for today though. We shouldn't be drawing attention to ourselves, so Yuki is really tight about giving them out, but getting you infinite train travel is a necessity in this city. Now do what I do."

Kazuki approached the barriers in front of the actual trains, put his black ticket in a small slot in the front of the siderail, it was then ejected from a slot on the top and the gates blocking his path opened.

He grabbed the ticket and rushed through before the barrier closed behind him. He then waved to Shikamaru before yelling "Now you!" drawing the attention of several people near him.

Shikamaru copied him exactly, rushing through the same way Kazuki did and making it through without having to try again.

"Nice rush, now let's get that train…" Kazuki said, looking up at the boards above them. Shikamaru looked up and noticed a few words he recognised, mainly from legends. Susanoo, Izanami, Izanagi, Amaterasu, Tsukuyomi.

"Ok! Platform twelve in six minutes; let's get over there now!" said Kazuki as he pulled Shikamaru up a flight of stairs.

That single flight of stairs turned into several as Kazuki kept running, letting go of Shikamaru on the second flight when he remembered that Shikamaru was a _ninja_.

Once the pair reached the top, the corridor opened up onto a large bridge. Shikamaru peeked over the edge, observing what was below. People, lots of people getting onto and off of large machines on rails. He had heard about small systems of something similar being set up in some countries from his universe, but never anything quite like this. Nearly two dozen different tracks were underneath him, a large platform was between every two tracks so every track was usable, most with a train already waiting but some empty. He was brought of his concentration when Kazuki started stepping down a set of stairs onto one of these platforms.

"Down here Shikamaru, this is platform 12" called Kazuki from near the bottom. "Better hurry up or you're gonna miss it, I'm cutting it a bit fine as it is."

Shikamaru was a dozen stairs from the bottom before he jumped, clearing the rest of the stairs and landing next to Kazuki, before standing up and giving the alchemic warrior a look that just said 'Are you kidding me?'.

"Well, it should be here in a few seconds. We just need to get on the train to the Eastern District now then I can show you the park and a few of the shops when we get there."

As if on cue, a loud howl echoed through the station, followed by a hiss, as the train slowed next to the platform. Kazuki strode forward and pressed a button on the train's wall, causing it to hiss slightly again as it opened up, letting them access it.

"Attention all passengers, this is a Cardinal Line train going directly to Eastern District – Seiryuu; this is an express train. I repeat this is a Cardinal Line train going directly to Eastern District – Seiryuu; this is an express train." Came a loud voice. Shikamaru looked around startled for a moment until he identified as coming from a grille on the wall of the train. Seeing his discomfort, Kazuki spoke to him quietly.

"Don't worry man, it's just another gadget. That's how a lot of things work here, a person speaks into a special thing he holds and then his voice comes out of every grille on the train. It's like, we have TV. It's like being able to watch a play in your own living room, or watch people act out the contents of a book. Too bad there's not been many of those… come on, let's get a seat."

Kazuki turned left from the small entryway they were in onto a thin corridor with seats on either side. No one else was on this carriage, so they two sat down together on the left. They felt the train start to pull away, watching the cityscape pass by the windows in the late morning sun.

"So dude, what did you do for fun in your universe? I did then what I generally do now, hang around, practise and keep myself fit. I watch some TV sometimes, but Smoker always kicks me out so he can watch his films."

"So Smoker's a dirty old man? Rather surprising, I thought a military guy would be rather gentlemanly about that kind of thi-" Shikamaru paused in mid-sentence, memories of a powerful but perverted Toad Sage came to mind. "Never mind, I didn't honestly do much… I used to hang around with Temari a lot, but my job takes up a lot of time, so my hobbies were kind of pushed aside when I turned 12. I used to play shogi though, still do when I can."

"Ah cool, if you like shogi, I'll introduce you to those old farts I was talking about. Chess is pretty similar to shogi, a fair bit different but it all comes from the same type of thing." Answered Kazuki, pulling a roll of mints out of his pocket. "Want one? I kinda didn't eat this morning but need to take the edge off. We'll get something to eat near the park; I know there's a hotdog place there that'll blow your mind."

"Sure"

Shikamaru took the mint that was offered to him, sucking the sweet in silence for a few minutes.

"So is Smoker that perverted? I mean, he just didn't seem the type" asked Shikamaru, copying Kazuki's relaxed pose on the headrest.

Kazuki gave an odd nod, not being able to flex his neck fully in his position.

"Well, he always makes me leave the room and I've seen the covers of his DVDs… they're all pretty kinky shit. I haven't pushed it though; the man is fucking scary when he's angry. If you watch, he actually starts to steam when he's getting mad."

"Steam?"

"Yeah, well, smoke. He's apparently got smoke based powers. Just what that means I don't know; he fought away from me in the last fight. What I do know is that he's strong, really damn strong. I tried to open the door to the living room the other night while he was watching his films and that motherfucker dropkicked me. If the walls of the base weren't indestructible, I'd have probably broken through your wall and maybe even the opposite wall."

"He kicked you? And the walls are indestructible?"

"Yeah… he doesn't have diplomacy as a skill… I don't mind, after fighting Victor a kick to the chest isn't going to kill me," Replied Kazuki "And not quite, they won't be broken by normal force like earthquakes or fire, but if one of those bastards finds us, it won't hold, so we keep our location secret."

"Ok…" replied Shikamaru, going back to thinking.

"Hey, I just remembered!" half-yelled Kazuki, correcting himself and interrupting Shikamaru again. "Who's Temari?"

'_Fuck.'_

"She's… ah… dammit!" cussed Shikamaru, any answer he gave now apart from the real one would be an obvious lie. He let out a sigh before continuing. "Fine… she's a woman that I kind of… you know… hook up with… a bit."

"A bit?" probed Kazuki, looking for more detail

"Yes, a bit, any more and her brother might literally kill me where I stand."

"Oh, come on, I know what it's like to be a brother, I have a younger sis myself, but I wouldn't murder someone for doing her… when she's old enough." Kazuki added, making sure the last part was clear.

"Her brother is the leader of an allied country who used to be possessed by a sand demon and nearly killed all of us before a friend of mine beat him and changed him for the better." Deadpanned Shikamaru.

"Fair 'nough" said Kazuki, popping another mint into his mouth.

"So how about you? Do you have a girlfriend back in your universe?" asked Shikamaru, accepting another mint.

'_See how he likes being made uncomfortable.'_

"Are you kidding me man? Said Kazuki laughing to himself, "I don't have a girlfriend."

Shikamaru listened to him laugh and didn't believe him for a second.

"Really?"

"Yeah! She's my wife."

Shikamaru coughed out his half-finished mint onto the floor in front of him. He looked over at Kazuki who was showing Shikamaru his left hand, ring on his fourth finger.

"You're married? You're even younger than I am! And I'm not even twenty yet!" exclaimed Shikamaru. "Why are you married so young?"

Kazuki shrugged, smile still on his face.

"I loved her; I wanted to be with her for the rest of my life, so I married her."

Shikamaru just stared at him.

"How can you go about it so simply?"

"Why are you making it so complicated?" replied Kazuki, grin still on his face.

"How can you be sure she loves you? How can you still say you'll love her in ten years?" asked Shikamaru, his breathing getting shallower.

'_This kid is married… I've been with Temari for like four years now and we're just barely lovers…'_

"Dude, if it ends up with her not loving me, then I don't want anyone else's love. Let me tell you Shika, I was gone for two months, two months without seeing me, believing I was dead. But she found there was a small chance I could still come back. So what did she do? She came to get me. She convinced her organisation that I could be rescued, and she came to the moon to get me."

"The moon…"

"Yes, the moon. I'm not lying to you Shika. She, a pure human, came to the moon on a giant suit of armor to rescue me. That's the kind of love I want, and when she agreed to marry me I got it." Explained Kazuki, "But don't let my standards be yours, does Temari make you happy? Does she show that love she has for you whenever she can? I won't say for you to do anything stupid, but marriage isn't as serious a thing as you think. It's meant to be an expression of love, to show how much you care about each other… if you lose that love, then you're no longer married, even if you still are in name."

Shikamaru was silent for a moment.

"You're like an old man about love aren't you?" said the ninja, grimacing as he remembered every old man he knew who'd talked about love.

Kazuki just nodded to himself.

"So what's her name?" asked Shikamaru

Kazuki gave Shikamaru a sad grin.

"Tokiko, Tokiko Tsumura"

XxX

"You seriously weren't kidding about this thing were you? Am I supposed to eat it or use it as a bludgeoning weapon?" said Shikamaru as he watched Kazuki approach his table with their hotdogs.

They were sat outside the restaurant, 'Long John's', at a white plastic table in the warm air. The area itself smelt of flowers, drifting over from the flower garden in the park across the road. Tall apartment buildings and smaller shops could be seen in the distance, but this row was stores opposite the park seemed to be the most popular. Not hard to see why, ice cream, light meals, sports shops, everything you'd need for a day out.

Kazuki put the two hotdogs down on the table, still wrapped in foil. Each of them was easily a foot and a half in length. Shikamaru grabbed his and unwrapped the foil, using it as a pseudo-plate, examining the hotdog itself.

"So it's basically a big sausage in a bun?" said Shikamaru "With… fried onions on top." He didn't sound excited at the prospect.

Kazuki was already covering his in mustard and ketchup, his hand reaching out for mayonnaise before deciding against it. He looked up at Shikamaru once he was done with his 'adjusting'.

"Pretty much, but there's a ton of different kinds of sausage, and onions is just a personal choice. Think of it like a sandwich, meat, sauce and tasty stuff." Said Kazuki, taking a bite from the end. "Well, eat up, once you're done, I'll take you to where those chess players are."

Shikamaru took that as enough reason to suck it up and try the food. He took a bite off the end and chewed, sampling the taste.

'_Not bad…'_

XxX

"There they are!" spoke Kazuki, getting Shikamaru's attention. The ninja was looking around for a group of people who looked old, but there seemed to be a lot of old couples and families in the park. He saw Kazuki walking over to a small group of old people surrounding a few boards of chequered black and white on small tables.

"Hey folks! Kazuki is here!" called the younger teen

The group of five perked their heads up, looking at the teen before each giving a small greeting. Shikamaru jogged to catch up with Kazuki, before continuing to walk at his pace. He looked at the group before him, four men and one woman; one man had white hair with a large bald spot on the top and a large smile on his face, another man had more hair and a darker colour, and was giving Shikamaru an odd glare, the third man seemed to be a lot older than the others with a thick pair of glasses and the final man seemed to be younger but had a cane beside his seat. The woman had permed white hair and a bright smile as she saw Kazuki approaching.

"Awww… Kazuki came to see us again!" she said, walking over to hug the teen. "How've you been Kazu, who's your friend?"

"Just fine Eda, in fact I brought a friend of mine with me. I heard he liked shogi so I thought chess might be his kinda game. D'ya mind teaching him chess while I go get your lunches? Just had to check who was here first."

The woman just smiled and grabbed Shikamaru's hand.

"Not a problem Kazu, thanks for bringing us a young man to teach… oh I'm going to have some fun with you." She said, addressing Shikamaru on the last part.

Shikamaru gave Kazuki a glare but he let himself be dragged over to sit at one of the tables with Eda. The four men were already divided onto two tables, each with a few pieces placed on the chequerboard and most in a box beside them, but they each turned briefly to see the newcomer in their midst. While he was being sat down, he saw Kazuki walking off back towards the row of shops

"So what's your name then dearie?" she asked, bringing a medium sized felt bag out of the bag she was carrying.

Shikamaru watched her gently place an assortment of ornamental pieces, each with differing designs in black and white, onto the board. She arranged them all into ranks, small pieces making a rank defending a row of more ornate pieces on each side of the board.

"I'm Shikamaru," said the teen in question.

"That's a nice name, bit long for me though, can I call you Shika?" asked Eda, putting on a pair of large framed glasses.

"That's fine, so long as Eda is fine for you too?" asked Shikamaru, looking at the black pieces in front of him. A castle, a horse, something that looked vaguely like a pointy hat, a pair of pieces that were similar size, but one seemed more feminine in design, and the same on the opposite side.

"Oh that's fine, I'm too old to stand of pleasantries much now." Hushed Eda as she looked over her pieces, checking they were in the right order. "Still got it! Now Shika, you've never played this before?"

A shake of the head from Shikamaru was her answer.

"Ok then, why don't I just explain it as we play, it's easier to remember that way."

XxX

Several chess games later, Shikamaru had the older players wide-eyed. In his first match, Eda had taken him through several plays and generally been easy on him. He came back in that match fairly well until he got cornered through excellent use of her pawns.

The second match was even closer, he had been one move away from checkmate when she had confounded him by switching the position of her previously unmoved king and rook.

"That's called castling Shika," said Eda, as he looked at her with a confused look. "By moving the rook to the other side of the king and moving the king where I did, I defended myself and got myself the high ground. You just can't do it if you've moved the king or the rook you use before."

The third match was when the four men had finished their games and had moved their chairs to come watch the new kid. By using his bishop and rook, along with several advanced pawns, he had cornered Eda's king while his queen went around the board cleaning up all the pieces she couldn't defend without putting herself in check. When he was done, he moved his queen in for the final move.

"Hoooo boy, Eda just got her butt whupped!" exclaimed the man with the cane from his seat, laughing as he did so.

"Shut your trap Jeff, the boy is good." joked the man with the smile. "Hey kid, want to play me next?"

"Ummm… sure." Said Shikamaru

'_Where the heck is Kazuki… he's only getting their lunches'_

Eda and the man switched places, Eda taking his chair as he sat across from Shikamaru. The man reached his hand out to shake Shikamaru's hand.

"My name's Tim, good to meet you. It's been a long time since a youngster like you has beaten Eda, but if you're new to chess..." Said the man, now called Tim "So what did you say your name was?"

"Shikamaru, sir"

"Oh, Sir, I like that, hey, all you guys better call me sir now!" said Tim to the men beside him. "I haven't been called Sir by a young man in years, let's hope your chess is as good as your manners."

"I want to play him after" said the man in the glasses.

"You can play after me John; I want to see what he's made of first." Said the man who had glared at Shikamaru earlier.

John just sighed as he shook his head.

"Fine, whatever you want Isaac, just don't crush his spirit. I actually like to play chess as a game, not a battle you know."

"No promises" was all the reply he got.

"Ok kid, you ready to play?"

"Of course"

So Tim made his first move.

XxX

"You're a lucky lucky man Isaac" muttered John as he shook his head, "I bet you didn't even see those knights of his converging in your game until you accidentally countered him"

Shikamaru had played a game against each of the men, beating them all except for Isaac who had won rather decisively after his knight's assault had been countered.

"Luck has nothing to do with it, my warrior spirit guided me" said Isaac, arms crossed in a defiant manner.

"Oh not this again, Isaac, you are not the warrior sent from beyond the stars to be the salvation of Namkaga." Despaired John, running his hand down his face. Eda, Tim, Jeff and Shikamaru watched this exchange happen with increasing worry, neither wanted a fight to break out now.

"Prove it" declared Isaac, John let out a low growl before a voice interrupted him.

"Excuse me, I know it's been a while but might I play a game with you?" spoke a large, well-built man in a blue suit and red long-sleeved undershirt.

"Gendo! You old coot, where have you been!" called Jeff, shaking his stick at the man in jest.

Gendo kept his face steady as he answered.

"Work's been keeping me busy, and a few family issues popped up. I'm afraid I couldn't turn up with that still happening. Now I just want to relax a little."

"Ah, well that's alright then Gendo; come sit down, we've got a new member today. Hey… maybe you'd like to play a game with him. Shikamaru? Feel like playing a game against a man who can defeat Isaac every time?" said Tim, hoping to distract Isaac from John.

"Hey! It isn't every time!" objected Isaac, turning his attention on Tim. "I beat him that time last winter."

"You refer to the time I was called out here to play chess, in the freezing cold, with the flu?" asked Gendo, clearly unimpressed.

Isaac heard him state that fact and shut his mouth, having been squarely shut up.

"So Shikamaru, feel like one more game?" asked Tim "Kazuki won't be back for while; he usually heads over to North Namkaga to get us a treat from our favourite restaurant there. We can't exactly get there now, so he volunteered to get it for us when he could."

'_He could have told me he was going to be a few hours.'_

Shikamaru looked up at the large man from his seat, and then shrugged his shoulders.

'_Not like I can leave anytime soon.'_

"Gendo Ikari," said Gendo, extending his hand. "Would you indulge me with a game?"

"Sure," said Shikamaru, meeting his hand "let's play."

XxX

A/N: So, the second chapter is done, I hoping the story is starting to gain a little momentum and that you readers are enjoying it so far. Reviews are always nice, but I'd rather you point out flaws you found than anything else, because then the story gets that much better later on.

Beta Note: Hey everyone, this story's been officially approved by me, Lucifer-Allheart. Hope you enjoy it.


	3. Introduction: Part 3

Introduction: Part 3

XxX

Gendo sat down at the table, his white pieces already correct after the previous match while Shikamaru set his own back up. Placing the final piece in its correct position, Gendo made his first move, placing the pawn in front of his king forward two spaces.

'_That's the same kind of move that these men have been using… it lets his queen and bishop move out as soon as possible. Best thing would be to respond in kind'_

Shikamaru placed his own king's pawn forward two spaces.

'_This kid's most likely just copying me if he's new here. Let's see.'_

Gendo moved his right side knight forward, just behind and to the right of his pawn. Shikamaru in turn moved his left side knight so it would be opposite Gendo's knight.

'_So he is copying me... but he can't keep that up long without thinking for himself. I'll push him slightly'_

'_My knights seem to be the piece I use best so far, best get them into the field as soon as possible.'_

Gendo then placed his left side knight in same column as his bishop, directly protecting the pawn he moved first. Shikamaru paused for a moment, considering his moves.

'_The knight seems to be his favoured piece too… it seems to be the best one to capture the queen. Is that his goal?'_

Shikamaru advanced his right side knight, placing it opposite the knight Gendo just moved.

'_He's playing a Four Knight Game opening? He's still imitating me, but he's opened in a fairly good way. I shouldn't have chosen this opening for a copycat, but his inexperience will no doubt show soon. Maybe I'll bait him a little.'_

Gendo moved his queen's pawn forward two spaces, placing it within capture range of Shikamaru's king side pawn. Shikamaru didn't even need to consider his move as he took the piece, making him directly threaten Gendo's left knight.

'_Hmm, he took such simple bait. He must be a player who thinks in the moment.'_

Gendo used his right knight to capture the threatening pawn, in turn threatening Shikamaru's right knight.

'_That wasn't my best move' _thought Shikamaru _'He's now able to take one of my knights, if he sacrifices one of his own. Same goes for me, I can take his, but he'll take mine with that queen of his. How I do from here will show me how much he cares about his knights, or his confidence at taking my queen.'_

Shikamaru moved his left side bishop down along the black squares till it was directly threatening Gendo's left knight.

'_Not bad, he's threatening my knight, but I can't move it or he'll take my king. Very good Nara; for a beginner. You're going to learn that I play here for a reason; Isaac is just about the only person in this city that still poses a threat to me at chess.'_

Gendo moved his right knight, taking Shikamaru's left knight while offering a weak pin on his bishop and queen.

'_Damn it old man, you care more about getting rid of my knights than keeping your own. You're not after my queen at all… you don't need to, do you?'_

Shikamaru used the pawn that protected his right knight to take the knight now threatening his queen, scowling slightly as he did so.

Gendo saw the scowl, his own expression not changing. He simply moved his left bishop forwards so that it was in the same row as his queen. Shikamaru then moved his queen's pawn forward two spaces, within the capture range but also threatening Gendo's king's pawn. What then followed was an exchange of pawns as Gendo took the threatening black pawn, and then the black pawn that had captured his knight previously took his white pawn.

The leader of NERV took that opportunity to king-side castle, giving himself a strong defence behind pawns with his rook. Shikamaru mirrored that move soon after, also boosting his defence. Gendo then moved his left side bishop to just diagonal of Shikamaru's right knight, ready to take it if he chose.

'_Shit. He's threatening my knight, but if I move it then I lose my queen. I've already lost one; I don't want to lose the second one. Maybe if I distract him, he'll make a move elsewhere till I can counter that bishop.'_ thought Shikamaru, face changing as he concentrated. He moved his right bishop's pawn forward one space, a seemingly innocuous move.

Gendo retorted by moving his queen diagonally until it was opposite Shikamaru's remaining knight. Shikamaru then chose to move his left bishop back until it was between his queen and his knight, filling in the remaining gap. Gendo chose to move his right rook next to his castled rook, threatening that bishop.

'_He's very focussed on cornering me here, I have to think of a way to stop him, he's currently one move up on me here, I have to protect that space.'_

Shikamaru moved his castled rook to next to his queen and protecting his bishop. Gendo responded by moving his left knight to in front of his threatening rook.

'_There's no way he'd move that there unless he was planning to advance.'_ thought Shikamaru, _'I'll throw a kunai in that gear. Counterattack.'_

Shikamaru moved his far left pawn one space forward, threatening the bishop that opposed his knight. Gendo then moved his white-aligned bishop until it was next to the one being threatened.

'_If you take my bishop, I'm going to take yours too boy, and if you don't, I may take them both anyway.'_ thought Gendo, pleased with his set up.

Shikamaru looked around the board for a second, before using his threatened bishop to take Gendo's white-aligned bishop.

'_Good boy, rather than cower to protect one piece of material, he's moving forward and sacrificing one to protect many more. __This boy thinks like __a military leader, I can respect that.'_

Gendo then pushed his knight forward, threatening both a pawn and the white-aligned bishop. Shikamaru moved his bishop one space further, threatening Gendo's queen while being defended itself by his remaining knight.

Gendo calmly moved his queen one space to right, moving it out of the bishop's range of attack while still threatening it.

'_Why… you magnificent bastard you' _thought Shikamaru, his mood lightening _'This game really is different to shogi… shogi seems so orchestrated and militaristic, this seems a lot more free… like a dance.'_

Gendo saw the look in Shikamaru's eyes; he'd seen that look before. He was a commander after all.

'_He has the look of a man enjoying a battle, but that only came from two kinds of people. Warriors and idiots who dream of glory in death. Which one this boy is has yet to be determined' _

XxX

Shikamaru placed a final pawn forwards, checkmating the man's king.

Gendo sat there, his hands stuck together, letting his chin rest of him with his elbows on the table. He looked over the board, Shikamaru and him had gained roughly equal amounts of material, but in the midgame he had faltered, his queen was taken and his rhythm was lost. From then, it was close, but it ended in defeat for him.

"He he! Gendo got a taste of his own medicine!" cackled Jeff, laughing like the man's stoic visage was a picture of pain and suffering.

Gendo coughed into his fist as he stood up, extending his hand to Shikamaru.

"You are very good Shikamaru Nara, We'll have to play again some time."

Shikamaru stood up and took the hand, shaking it.

"Yeah, sounds good Gendo Ikari."

The NERV Commander stood up, stretched out briefly and then started walking in the direction of the row of shops, back into the metropolis of the city.

"Well done son! I haven't Gendo that thoroughly whipped since… ever." congratulated Tim, "Now where did you learn to play chess like that? There's no way you're a first timer if you beat Gendo."

Shikamaru shook his head.

"Honestly Sir, I haven't played chess ever before. I'm known for being good at shogi and I suppose the games are similar, but I have genuinely never played before."

"You're a little liar Nara." Isaac said gruffly. "There's no way you're green. I beat you, and you beat Gendo, so by that logic I should be able to beat Gendo."

"You already have, remember you fool?" chastised Eda, slapping Isaac's shoulders.

Shikamaru watched the man and woman bicker for a while, listening to their argument as Tim stepped in to defend his wife and Jeff joining Isaac for seemingly no reason but to argue. John, in the meanwhile, just kept his seat like Shikamaru, watching the conflict.

*Boom*Boom*Boom*Boom*

A loud set of explosions interrupted the argument from behind them, each member of the group turning around, eyes widening at the sight of what was approaching them.

"What the… what is that?" gasped Shikamaru, his mouth hanging open in shock.

"_WHO THE HELL DO YOU THINK I AM!"_

XxX

Hiko woke up that morning at six am, dressing in his usual attire. Kazuki and Smoker had both offered to find him something more modern to dress in but he had insisted on wearing his usual clothes.

'_These children just don't understand, a swordsman shouldn't be without training at any time. Wearing clothes suitable for combat is part of that. All those tight pants and ill-fitting shirts…'_

Hiko mused on this as he dressed in identical clothes to yesterday. Tying on his sandals and donning his cloak, he picked up his sword, exited his room and left the apartment, heading downstairs.

'_I'll get some breakfast at that nice little place near the park'_

Once he was downstairs, he left the courtyard and turned right. The road was empty at this time in the morning. The East-West Central road was used mainly due to simplicity, you found the road, head down it in the direction you wanted and then turned off when you were where you wanted. That was similar to plan Hiko had today.

'_Let's see… it is my day off today, so I don't have to be at the park till around nine am for them to be there. The park isn't too far, only on the other side of Central, that's only about twenty kilometres.'_

Hiko looked around, making sure it really was as quiet as it seemed, before starting to run east along the road at a relaxed pace. A Hiko relaxed pace.

XxX

At seven am, Hiko stopped himself just outside a heavily wooded building. In the middle of this row of shops near the park, this one building stood out among others. It had traditional Japanese architecture, a wooden veranda with a few tables and chairs on it and a small decorative river surrounding it. Above the doorway, there were a few kanji along with a translation, 'Silver Butterfly Teahouse'

'_Ahh… my little place.'_ thought Hiko as he walked up the few steps to get to the veranda, sitting down at one of the tables, pulling the wicker chair in underneath him. No one else was here, even though the shop was open for early breakfasts.

He'd only been sat down for a few moments when the door to the shop slid open and a middle-aged woman came out. Her straight black hair laid untied, reaching her the middle of her back and covering some of the exquisite patterns on the kimono she wore. Blues and purples wound around each other in designs of flowers and animals on this dress, complementing the light blue colour of her eyes.

"Could that be Seijuuro?" she said; her voice steady as she stepped into the cool morning air. Hiko gave a small smile before calling out to her.

"Good morning Keimi, I'm over here"

The woman turned to the sound of his voice and smiled back as she started to walk over.

"Hello Seijuuro, you're out here early this morning. I was just opening up." Said Keimi, pulling up a seat for herself.

"Yes, but those kids turn up here this time every week. The way they fight is interesting; it's like seeing everything I've ever fought blended together."

Keimi just stared straight ahead at him, her wry grin not leaving her face.

"Is the almighty Seijuuro Hiko the thirteenth scared of some kids and their wooden blades?" teased the woman.

Hiko just laughed at her.

"Hardly woman, I said it's everything I've ever fought. Remember that no one who fought me has _won_."

Keimi sighed, shaking her head briefly. This just made Hiko laugh more; knowing he'd won that little exchange.

"Look you pompous man, I've just opened so nothing is ready. Do you want to place an order and I'll start getting it ready first?"

Hiko let himself calm down before giving her an answer.

"Yes, yes, a bowl of rice, some miso soup and… a small tonkatsu."

"Anything else?" asked Keimi, as she stood, eyes looking at Hiko demandingly.

"A jug of water, I'm rather parched." He responded, ignoring her glare.

"I mean anything else you want to say. Say, I don't know, 'please'? You rude man."

"One doesn't survive long as a swordsman with manners, but if it'll get me my order quicker then 'please' may I have my order"

Keimi gave an 'hmph' of discontent as she started walking back inside, placing her hands on the doorframe as she walked in.

"Manners cost you nothing Seijuuro, maybe you should be nicer to those who offer a hand of friendship." She called as she walked inside.

Hiko sat there for a moment, contemplating his position.

'_But if I had any manners, I couldn't play this game with you daily.' _

He then sat in silence, eyes closed, just letting his mind wander from topic to topic until he heard the door to the shop open again. He saw that in the ten minutes he was waiting, he was still the only customer to turn up. A small clatter silenced him as she placed a tray down in front of him. Possibly the smallest piece of pork cutlet he had ever seen, a bowl of miso that he was sure was meant for sake and the same for his rice.

"I'll be back in a moment with your water." Said Keimi as she walked back inside the shop.

"Bring the rest of my meal while you're at it!" he called back to her, examining his current meal from different angles as if he was missing part of the story.

"Not on your life Seijuuro, when you learn some manners then you can eat well here!" she replied in king.

"Do I need to come in there and get it myself?"

At this, Keimi appeared at the door, a large ceramic jug of water in her hands.

"Try to steal from me Seijuuro, and you'll find out why those kids still call me sensei." She warned, placing the jug on his table.

"Ah, as if I'd steal from you Keimi," Hiko said, starting on his small meal. "Even if you'll never serve me lots of food, your meals are still the best I can get around here."

"Good, now; I have to prepare for other, less rude, customers"

He finished his tonkatsu in only a few bites, watching her retreat into the shop. He kept quiet as he saw her cheeks rise slightly in a smile.

XxX

Having said his goodbyes to Keimi and paid for his meal with some notes pulled from a pocket inside his jacket, he headed into the park proper. He didn't have to walk far until he found what he was after.

A small flat area of well-kept grass, soft on bare feet but not long enough to obstruct movement. It was certainly not large, only about twenty metres by twenty metres, but it was enough. Beside it was a small building with male and female symbols outside, most likely used as a changing room or toilet. He found himself a spot underneath a large tree outside of the flat area, but well within view.

'_Heh, no matter how many times I watch them, it's still strange to be a spectator in this'_

He didn't have to wait long until people started to turn up at the flat area. There ended up being five young adults and one adult, each one carrying a large sack and a smaller bag with them. As they arrived, they spoke to each other for a few moments before noticing Hiko and speaking to the others in a quieter tone. The adult glared at Hiko for a moment, but Hiko just glared back and settled into his spot. The adult kept his glare as he turned to face the group.

"Ok, go get changed, I'm going to have words." He heard the adult saying as the teenagers walked off to the changing building. He then saw the man coming towards him but stayed lying down under the tree.

"Do you mind telling me why you're here _again_? I'm sure the police won't look kindly on this, these are my students, man."

Hiko shrugged at the man.

"Interest in the style, doing a favour for a friend." Mentioned Hiko casually.

"And what favour could that be?" accused the man, "Because these lessons are my responsibility, if anything happens during one, I'm the one who'll deal with it."

"Silver Butterfly Keimi told me to keep an eye on your students. I'm just doing a favour for a friend" he replied, putting his hands behind his head. "So no, I don't think of your students in that way except that as swordsmen.."

The man blinked at the reference to Keimi. He then knelt down and spoke quietly to Hiko.

"In my hand?"

"A blade." He murmured back.

"On my lips?"

"Fine sake."

"In my heart?"

"A mirror to reflect one's enemies"

The man stood back up, before reaching down his hand to shake with Hiko. Hiko just looked at the man as if he were several sandwiches short of a picnic. The man coughed as he withdrew his hand.

"Well, it appears you do know her well. Are you going to participate now that we know you're affiliated, or just going to lay there?" asked the man.

"Just going to lay here, it's my day off and I already ran here. Why don't you run off and teach those kids of yours to defend themselves. I'll stay here content in the knowledge that samurai of reputations beyond yours have fallen to my blade too many times to count.

The man gave Hiko an unfriendly glare as he moved back towards the flat grass, his students now leaving the changing rooms in their gear. Each one had a pleated pair of hakama and a kendogi underneath their armor. They wore a thick fabric tare around their waist and a solid do on each of their chests. Under their arms, they each carried their helmets and gloves and in their left hand they carried a bamboo shinai.

"Ok guys, warm up time!" called the man as he walked towards the changing rooms himself. "I want everyone warmed up by the time I'm ready. Joshua, you lead the warm up."

"Hai Ben-sensei!" called the tallest of the students, before signalling a circular motion with his hand "Put your shinai down and start running!"

Hiko watched as the group ran through their basic warm up, stretching.

"Grab your shinai!"

The group did so, making a large circle for so few people. They stood with their shinai in their left hand, letting it hang down from where it was held near its guard.

"Rei!"

The group all bowed into the centre of the circle. They then each took three good paces towards the centre.

"Sonkyo!"

They then 'unsheathed' their shinai and placed them in front of them, left hand near the end of the hilt and right hand near the guard and squatted down. Without a sound, they waited for Joshua to rise first, then quickly followed.

They then started doing several repetitions of cuts, each one accompanied by a large 'Kiai'. Large swinging cuts, cuts aimed at the head with several types of footwork, cuts that twist the wrist, lunging cuts and cuts while stepping side to side.

"Haya-suburi!" called the tallest one, his do, styled like a barrel, shaking from the loud yell.

The others started to do simple cuts while gliding backwards and forwards in quick succession, each swing accompanied by a 'Kiai'.

As they finished that repetition, they changed from the circular position they had assumed until they all reached the middle, turned around, yelled and charged again on the way out. The group then paused and took deep breaths, feeling sufficiently warm from the activity.

The group didn't notice a large thumping sound in the distance, but Hiko perked up, sitting up against the tree.

At this point, the man named Ben approached the now warmed up group, clad in his own armor and clothing. The group congregated on him as he started to speak.

"Now guys, today we're going to-" He was interrupted as Hiko ran straight through the middle of the group "Oh for… OI! WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE – WHAT IS THAT!" yelled Ben as he looked at the direction Hiko was running in.

"Looks like a mecha to me." Said one of the students, only a little smaller than Joshua.

"Well what is it doing here Ryan?" questioned Ben

"Like I know."

XxX

"_Remember Bro, you're just trying to get this new person to fight you. Yoko will cover you if he's stronger than we expect until I can get there." _came Simon's voice over a loudspeaker in the cockpit.

A tall light blue haired man sat in this cockpit inside the hanger. Bare chested with large blue tattoos across his arms and back, wearing only a pair of baggy black pants held up by a thick white fabric belt. He'd been ordered to stay put until Yoko confirmed the target from atop the deck. His signature shades mimicked by the mecha whose cockpit he was sitting in, smiled to himself as he relaxed.

"Don'cha worry Lil bro, I've got this. This bozo won't know what's hit him." He replied, his speech being relayed into the bridge through a similar system as he was being spoken to with.

Up in the bridge of the Dai-Gurren, Simon was sat opposite Leeron at the central table. A map of Eastern Namkaga was spread across the table on a digital display, plainly in view of the jar at the central point. The man's head floating in the jar looked over the map as he mapped a route through the park to the target location. Several crew members were sat at consoles, controlling the general movements and operations of the giant base mecha. Each member on the bridge was currently exasperating at the man in the hanger's attitude.

"Simon, the combination of Yoko and _him_ is a good one, but surely he can take this more seriously?" asked Leeron, eyeing the leader sceptically.

"Bro knows what he's doing Ron; if he does something wrong _then_ I'll talk to him."

Leeron shook his head.

"You're far too easy on him Simon, he's still not fully accepting that you're the leader we follow, not him."

Simon sighed.

"I know Ron, but after that incident with the Four Generals, I need to make it up to him."

Before Leeron could answer, the head in the jar spoke up.

"The optimal route is planned, waiting for confirmation of target." The head focused the last part towards the rather busty red haired woman standing by the bridge's window, binoculars to her eyes.

"I've got the location of the large source of spiral energy, but there's a big problem." Said Yoko, keeping watch through the binoculars.

"Yes?" asked Simon, cautiously.

"It appears that a certain ally is playing chess with the target."

Simon was shocked as he got up from his chair, walking over to Yoko.

"Are you serious? Who is it? It can't be Byakuran or one of his crew, is it a NERV employee?"

Yoko deadpanned, "Oh boy is it! It's the head honcho himself, Gendo Ikari."

Simon lowered his head, scowling slightly as he did so.

"Is he doing this on purpose? We can't move until Gendo is clear… How far along is the game?"

It was Yoko's turn to scowl, not even looking at Simon.

"Hell if I know Simon, I don't play chess. Hey, Lord Genome, connect to my binoculars and have a look for me."

She pulled a small cable out from the wall, inserting it into a matching port on the side of her binoculars. Lord Genome's head in the jar gazed upwards briefly as he scanned the chess game's image into his hard drive, letting it process to give a verbal answer.

"Probability of winning, White 32.79%, Black 64.11%, Draw 3.10%, Checkmate possible within 3 moves."

Simon sat back down opposite Leeron, before picking up the microphone he used before to speak to the man below.

"Bro, wait ten minutes and then launch."

"_Ten minutes? Puh-lease bro, I could lure him out, find out all his abilities and blow up several generals in that time."_

"This is important Bro, ten minutes. That's an _order._" Emphasised Simon.

"_Since when do you give me orders?"_ Half teased, half accused the man through the speakers.

"Since the team made me leader when I defeated the Four Generals and the Spiral King." Was his reply.

After a pause, the man spoke again. _"Fine, ten minutes. But if it's possible to launch sooner, let me get out there. I haven't piloted Gurren in ages; wanna give the girl a spin."_

Yoko was visibly getting annoyed with the man over the intercom, but stilled her tongue instead of ranting at him over the speakers.

"Bro, you piloted Gurren only a few weeks ago."

"_That's an age Simon; do you not understand the bond between man and machine?"_

"Bro, ten minutes or launch orders. End of discussion."

The group of people on the bridge continued their discussions, interrupted occasionally by a distracting comment of the intercom.

"_So… anyone here wanna make a bet how long it takes me to win? I'm putting my manliness up as collateral."_

After a few minutes, Yoko let out a sigh of relief.

"Gendo just left the target area, the area is clear."

This was the signal for activity all around the bridge, and cause for Simon to grab the microphone as Yoko moved past him, leaving the bridge to go onto the raised deck.

"That's the signal Bro, Launch!"

"_OH YEAH!" _came the enthused yell, the sound of loud banging echoing around the relatively quiet bridge.

"Gurren is active, he's exiting the hanger." Called one of the bridge operators in a steady tone. "Activating jump boosters"

The man's clanking footsteps halted as his feet became locked into place by small connectors on the runway he'd just exited onto. Without slowing down, these connectors burst forwards, faster than he'd been running at with him still attached.

"_WOAH!"_ yelled the man _"Now that's a launch!" _

As the connectors neared the end of the runway, a low hydraulic hiss was heard as the path gave a small angle to the launch.

"Launch pad angle at 30 degrees, landing zone clear, and path has been uploaded into Gurren's navigation systems"

"_Let's do this!"_

Yoko sighed from outside the bridge, hearing his voice through an earpiece as she picked up her rifle, watching him through the scope.

The large red gunman let out a howl of excitement as he was thrown into the air by the launch systems, his legs already running in the air.

As he landed, a large dust cloud emerged from the ground, the sound of the explosion muffled by the loose dirt. With no regard for anything except his map, he ran off towards his target. Families and everyone around the park were screaming and moving out of the way as best they could from the large mecha running straight through the park.

"_YAHAAAA! Simon! You're missing out here!" _ Called the man as he leapt over a family picnicking, not hearing their panicked screams.

"Bro, avoid the civilians! Remember that they are _not_ the targets!"

"_I hear ya lil bro! But come on! Piloting Gurren is my lifeblood!" _yelled Kamina, flipping several swimmers over as he leapt into a pond to cross it quickly.

"Don't worry Simon, he's an idiot, but he'll come around!" called Yoko down from the roof, keeping her eye on him through her scope.

Luckily, the target was in sight within a few more seconds, and what luck, he was alone. The man in Gurren stopped just short, to him, of the group of old people playing chess.

"_WHO THE HELL DO YOU THINK I AM?"_

He then took this time to point his finger to the sky, all while maintaining what should be eye contact with the teenager on the ground.

"_I'M THE INDESCRIBABLE VICE-COMMANDER OF THE DAI-GURREN-DAN, LADIES SWOON AND BABIES HALT THEIR CRIES IN MY PRESENCE. A PARAGON OF MASCULINITY TO ALL MEN IN THE WORLD; LEADING FORWARD AN IDEAL OF COURAGE WITH THE DRILL THAT PIERCES EVERYTHING TO HEAVEN ITSELF. THE ALMIGHTY AND RENOWNED LORD KAMINA!"_

While Kamina was posturing and yelling, Shikamaru had put his hands together a few times.

"Shadow Possession Technique" he called, his shadow extending to grab the shadows of the old people he had been playing chess with.

"What the… what did you do Shika?" asked Eda, struggling to move her mouth.

"I'm helping you, I'm gonna send you away from here so you're not caught in this."

"You'd better let me out right _now_ Nara, I'm gonna teach that bad egg that he doesn't mess with Isaac Sol!"

Shikamaru made a few more hand signs as the man continued his small rant.

'_He sure likes to take his time with this…'_ thought Shikamaru about the behemoth in front of him.

"Shadow Door Technique" said Shikamaru, the shadow underneath the old people becoming a thick liquid, pulling them into it, each one disturbed by the feeling. Just before their heads were absorbed, Eda called out to Shikamaru.

"Stay safe dear."

In a few seconds, the chess players were completely absorbed through the shadow.

'_Well… I sent them to the other side of the park… I wish I could send them further but I have no idea where they all live.'_

"_Are you ignoring me! The almighty KAMINA!" _ Yelled the large red thing in front of him.

"He may be, but I'm not!" called a new voice.

As the mecha turned it's head toward the voice, it's sunglasses fell to the ground, split down the middle. Next to Shikamaru landed the large form of Seijuuro Hiko, sword drawn in a stance with his hands over his left shoulder, sword pointed straight forwards.

"_You again! This is the second time you've done this!" _

"Hey, Shikamaru, you ready to fight?" asked Hiko rhetorically "Because this is going to be a lot different to anything you've done before."

Before Shikamaru could answer, Hiko pushed him to the side with his shoulder, the blade now in front of his face. Embedded on the edge of the blade was a small hunk of metal, aimed straight at Shikamaru's face.

'_I didn't even see him move… how quick is he?'_ thought the ninja.

"It's that sniper girl, they must have backup ready." Explained Hiko, blade suddenly moved to focus on the mecha again. "You'd better have some defences until Kazuki gets here, because I have a score to settle with this _thing._ Speaking of which, where is he?"

Shikamaru assumed a fighting stance again, before making a long chain of hand signs.

"Dancing Shadow Armor!"

The shadow around his feet started to pulse, rising into the third dimension and surrounding him in a circle orbiting around his waist. This circle then started to separate, multiple circles appearing around Shikamaru at different angles as if he had several hula-hoops floating around him.

"He left me here to get those old people their lunch while I played chess with them."

"_Coming, ready or not!" _yelled the mecha, starting to charge the pair.

Hiko sighed, eyes never leaving the mecha in front of him.

"That irresponsible brat… I'm gonna have words when I see him next. For now, survive!" The last word was yelled as Hiko ran to meet the charging mecha.

Shikamaru nodded, eyes twitching around him, looking for the sniper.

XxX

And that's the introduction over. Now starts the first battle. I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter and will leave some good criticism in the reviews.


	4. Battle In The Park

Battle In The Park

XxX

Shikamaru looked at the swordsman approach that huge red machine. The machine was unlike anything he'd seen before, as tall as the Hokage's tower and dominated by a large face with a certain cockiness about it.

'_Is this what I'm meant to fight? How the hell am I meant to fight something like that!'_ thought Shikamaru, the rings of shadow circling him idly. _'The Dancing Shadow Armor can't take lots of punishment; if that thing attacks me then I'm dead'_

"Oi! You! You think I've got a problem taking on someone of your size? You're nothing to me!" yelled Hiko as he leapt forward, his sword angled towards the bottom of the machine. "I don't normally indulge myself, but against a beast like you I'm sure I can. Ryūshōsen!"

Hiko placed his hand on the blunt edge of his blade, accurately aiming at the join between the face and its undercarriage. His sword was only a few inches away from the target when he was blown back towards Shikamaru in a cloud of smoke.

XxX

"_Kamina you dumbass, you're just a massive target in Gurren at the moment. Ron will do things you won't enjoy if you break it even more!" _yelled Yoko's voice through Kamina's intercom.

"Well what do you want me to do? He's got balls of fucking _steel_. He just took on Gurren with a sword! He's a real man!" shouted Kamina back.

"_Well look who doesn't like a taste of his own medicine. Remember how you got Gurren in the first place? You did the same thing! Now, you're going to lose if you stay in Gurren and then Ron has more work to do. So I guess you can get out and fight him yourself."_

"You know what Yoko, that's exactly what I'm going to do!"

"_Wait! Kamina! I was being sarcastic!"_ Yoko started to yell into her earpiece, but the sight of Gurren's face plate opening in her scope stopped her from finishing. _"You idiot!"_

She then focussed her attention on the lone teenager standing still behind the swordsman.

"Wait a sec… why doesn't he have a shadow?" muttered the sniper to herself as she aimed at him again.

XxX

"Listen up lowly maggots!" yelled Kamina from his spot in Gurren's open mouth as he jumped down to the ground, in his hand an elongated red sheath. "The great Kamina has come to fight you head to head!" Kamina then made an exaggerated point at Hiko.

With this, he put his sheath horizontally in front of him and started to unsheathe his particularly long sword. He had the blade only half out before Hiko collided with him, kicking the sheath out of his hands. Kamina fell to the floor, his sword just out of reach as Hiko put his foot on his chest.

"Well this is some disappointing news, here I was thinking I was fighting someone like that fine warrior Fuji all this time, but instead it's a little man with a big mouth!" said Hiko, leaning over Kamina with a wild grin on his face "I don't like being disappointed kid, but you have just done so." Hiko's sword tickled Kamina's throat, catching him slightly as the younger man's breathing rose. "A warrior wouldn't have spent so much time drawing his sword, especially against such a superior foe. Now, you get to meet some true warriors, in the afterlife."

As Hiko's muscles tensed, ready to strike the final blow, he changed the angle of his blade at the last second. Looking at his blade again, another bullet was embedded on the sharp edge, soon followed by another, and then a small explosion forced Hiko back, pushing him off of Kamina and forcing him back next to Shikamaru. The younger man reached over to grab his sword, the sheath now destroyed by Hiko's kick, and turned to face Hiko.

"You may have taken advantage of my good will, but you'll be getting none of that from the Dai-Gurren Dan!" yelled Kamina, blood dribbling from small splinter wounds on his chest.

Hiko brushed off the dust the explosion had caused and placed his sword back in its sheath, his hand lingering on the hilt.

"I guess it's a good thing I have prestige as well as power behind me. Fuyutsuki is a blade that's been well kept and used for over two hundred years, forged by the Great Student Chogi. Flecks of metal won't destroy it's cutting edge."

He then spoke, his eyes never leaving the now defensive man.

"Shikamaru, take out that gun lady. She's about two leagues in the direction I'm facing"

Shikamaru froze.

'_Take her out? I can barely block her attacks from here, how am I going to run that far without her shooting me?'_

"Are you not confident Shikamaru?" goaded Hiko "Should I instead ask a woman, or even a child to do it instead? Or perhaps you'd like to die here, and never see your partner again."

Shikamaru regained himself, looking at Hiko with angry eyes.

"So wh-" started Shikamaru before he got interrupted by Hiko running forwards, hand still on the hilt of his blade.

"Fight!" yelled Hiko, as he got within range of Kamina, his sheathed blade suddenly appeared, and sparks appearing as Kamina blocked the attack. Continuing the spin that he had started with the first strike, Hiko launched another attack with his other hand, this one holding the sheath. Kamina wasn't expecting the heavy blow, taking it to the shoulder.

Kamina let out a hiss of pain as he felt something crack inside him, pushing forward with all his body weight to break the block, his chest leaning on the back of his blade. Hiko kept his position, focussed on keeping his ground.

"How does it feel boy, being so severely outclassed that guts and willpower do nothing?" taunted Hiko as Kamina gritted his teeth. A small flash in the corner of Hiko's vision was all the warning he had before he jumped to the side, disengaging the block by himself. In the ground a few feet behind where he stood, a large chunk of grass had been torn up by another bullet.

"Are you seeing this Shikamaru? She's focussing on me, go take her out! This is getting annoying." yelled Hiko, sheathing his sword again.

Shikamaru nodded, running in the direction that Hiko had indicated before. Kamina ran to the side, aiming to get between Shikamaru and the Dai-Gurren. Before he got too far, Hiko was in front of him, hand on hilt.

"Stay put, boy."

XxX

"Simon! The target is approaching!" called Yoko into her headset, sending her message into the bridge, aiming her gun at a gap in those spinning circles around him. She held her breath, letting her finger pull back the trigger slightly as she continued aiming at the moving target. With an exhale of breath, she pulled the trigger all the way in.

The gun let out a loud bang as the bullet flew towards the target, the small gap exposing Shikamaru's knee to being hit. In the split second between when the bullet started its journey and ended it, the circle closest to it, hovering around his hips, had moved itself into the way of the bullet, causing it to bounce off harmlessly.

"The target has some kind of deflector shield, those rings of his just moved to deflect my bullet." reported Yoko into her earpiece.

Simon looked up from his seat on the bridge, glancing at Lord Genome and Leeron as they too started to think.

"Have you tried the concussive rounds?" asked Leeron

She reloaded her gun with another, slightly longer shell, aiming down the scope and hissing as he went behind a section of trees.

"Damn, he's behind a tree line. Give me a sec." said Yoko, training the rifle on where she estimated he'd leave the trees. A flicker of green in the corner of the scope told her she was wrong. "He knows he's being targeted, of course he wouldn't stay on course…"

XxX

Shikamaru carried on his run, leaping over a couple on the grass engaged in a kiss. The guy pulled himself away briefly and looked at the teenager now running away, his black hair scuffled from the woman's hands.

"Ringo… did you see that?" he said, breathing a few times heavily to regain some oxygen

"Doesn't matter," Said the red haired woman, doing the same.

"I kinda wanna chase him. He looks fast."

"I swear Ikki, if you start thinking about AT now, I will hurt you." threatened Ringo, "Now back to some unfinished business"

She gave him no chance to complain as she pulled him back to the grass, silencing his muffled protests with a kiss.

Shikamaru finally exited the treeline and Yoko got a look at his position. Firing the rifle again at the same point, she kept her scope on him.

An explosion of smoke covered him for a second, not offering any resistance as the ninja ran through it with not a scratch on him.

XxX

"They work fine on the other guy; but with this shield of his, they're completely ineffective. That shield is at least some kind of solid, because otherwise the concussion shell wouldn't have activated."

Lord Genome offered his suggestion.

"More than a few crew members are familiar with close and mid-range combat. Have them engage him; it will establish his shield's strength."

Simon nodded, entwining his fingers together on the table.

"That's reasonable, but what if he's awfully strong in close or mid-range?"

The head in the jar nodded.

"Unable to identify preference, insufficient data. I suggest a combined assault, find out for yourself."

"So we need people to make him keep a distance and to attack him up close… send Jorgun, Balinbow, Kittan and Makken on foot, priority red."

"Roger," replied the head, eyes gazing into nothingness as his mind sent the command to their respective communicators. After a few seconds, his gaze focussed again. "They're all aware of the situation, I specified non-lethal rounds"

"Thanks, Lord Genome" said Simon,

"He's approaching quickly!" called Yoko "He's already made it within 700m of the Dai-Gurren, he can probably see us already. Goddammit Simon, I can't focus on him and Kamina at once."

"There was always that possibility; by staying here we have a strategic foothold for launching Gunmen, but we remain highly visible. The civilians don't seem to mind though," confirmed the head. "Stay focussed on Kamina, we have the boy handled"

"Yoko, if you don't relax then you're gonna miss you big silly. Now take a deep breath and think of Kamina's pe-" butted in Leeron

"RON!" screamed an outraged Yoko, before letting out a small laugh. "I am _not_ doing that."

Leeron just smirked to himself. "No, you don't have to now honey,"

"A shield? Never heard of that before. Time to fight! Fight! Fight!" came a duo of yells from down the hallway as the two brothers deployed themselves, their guns and ammo clanking from their running pace.

"Quiet down you two knuckleheads! This is a job for the eldest Black sibling!" called Kittan, himself running afterwards, laden with less ammo but still a reasonable amount.

Smaller footsteps echoed down the hallway quickly, as they passed the bridge door, Simon saw Makken pass by with two swords at his waist. He eyed Lord Genome briefly.

"You did specify non-lethal to _all_ of them, right?"

"Confirmed,"

"Hmmm…" groused Simon, thinking about the swords.

XxX

"Vice-Commander! The Dai-Gurren Dan has engaged with the Travellers in combat." Called Lieutenant Ibuki to the higher deck of the command centre bridge. "Total number of combatants is currently nine; the MAGI are still calculating the most likely result of the encounter."

Kozo Fuyutsuki sighed to himself, sitting down in the chair his student seemed to favour so much.

'_It's fortunate that that kid was chosen for this mission, none of our pilots have much combat experience and the Evangelions are just not suitable for fighting an unknown foe. I'll order Misato and the pilots to __read and analyse the data we receive, then have the NERV instructors give them some additional classes'_

"Understood Lieutenant, keep up the analysis of the battle. Commander Ikari will want a detailed battle report within an hour it's finish. Hyuga, switch from general battle analysis to detailed analysis of the Travellers. Aoba, continue decoding of Dai-Gurren Dan communication signals." Commanded Fuyutsuki.

"Roger, Sir!" called the two men, Hyuga now analysing his target while Aoba continued going through multiple scripts of data recorded by their equipment.

'_Gendo, I'll never fully understand you.' _ Thought Fuyutsuki, _'Gaining knowledge on your allies… the methods of a liar… no, you'd call them the methods of a winner.'_

XxX

The wind ruffled the grass as Shikamaru ran across the field, he'd already run far and was trying to make sure he was still going in the right direction.

'_Now… he said I'd be able to see it… wait... what…' _

Shikamaru kept his eyes straight ahead of him, he could see what he was aiming for but the sight of it was stunning. A leviathan of metal, bright red and bipedal; he also saw a long runway extending from the hips of the robot that only brought one thing to mind.

'_That perverted teacher of Naruto's would love this thing.'_

As he approached, he felt one of his rings squirm as it deflected something from straight ahead.

"Huh?" he said to himself, looking in the direction he was attacked from. He didn't have much time before the rings around him started to move at a rate greater than he'd ever used before, so fast that the shadowy shield fully blocked his view.

'_Dammit… blocking so many __attacks__ is draining my chakra'_ Shikamaru thought as he knelt to the floor, offering less of a target so the shield had to cover less area.

"Alright men, the shield seems to be automatic. He can't see us but it's still working!" yelled Kittan, "Makken, we'll keep up rifle fire, you go do your thing."

"Yeah" came the grunting reply.

Shikamaru looked over cover to see a small man approach him, a thin crop cut of light blue hair on his head and a steady expression on his face. As he came closer, Makken pulled his two swords from their scabbards, the inside edge glinting in the afternoon sun.

'_Shit, is he going to use swords!'_

Makken readied his swords as he got closer, his left sword kept on his centre line and his right sword raised above his head, ready to slash. Shikamaru didn't wait for him to arrive, pulling a kunai out of his holder and throwing that at the man, standing up to aim as he did so.

The man dodged out of the way as the three men behind him started to shoot those things of theirs that Shikamaru assumed was a 'gun'. Shikamaru was within Makken's guard before he could stop him, another kunai in his hand as he aimed the pommel at the swordsman's eye. Makken ducked his head to the side before head-butting Shikamaru squarely in the temple. Shikamaru staggered backwards as Makken pushed his advantage, the swords slicing cleanly through his slowly wavering shadow. Shikamaru jumped backwards, steadying himself with his hand as he skidded.

Makken changed his grip, his right arm blade now held in a reverse grip so the blade ran down past his elbow, while the left hand remained unchanged. Shikamaru pushed back his assault, the Armor deflecting all of the bullets being fired at him by the others still. Pulling out a set of shuriken, Shikamaru threw them in a row at Makken; the older man evaded them by dropping himself to the ground

'_Why aren't they stopping shooting? Don't they want to help their teammate?'_ questioned Shikamaru internally. _'If they __stop__ shooting, I can use my techniques… or if I force them to stop shooting.'_

Makken used his position to take a swipe at Shikamaru's leg muscles, but the ninja jumped in the air to dodge that. After he landed, he saw the men shooting him were close by. Turning towards them, he ran at them full burst. Looking back at the man with swords now chasing him down, Shikamaru went over his plan in his head.

'_If I can destroy their weapons, they'll have to join the melee.'_

Just as Shikamaru reached the group, he felt a surge of pain run through him as he was met by a large metal rifle butt to the face. Jorgun had put the safety on his rifle, turned it upside down so he held the barrel like a baseball bat and had swung while Shikamaru wasn't looking. Now he was lying on the floor with what felt like a broken nose, struggling to breathe through his mouth. His armor had disappeared with his consciousness.

The men who had been fighting him looked at him on the floor, the one with yellow and brown hair speaking into a small metal box while the other three stood watch over his body.

"Hey, Simon, it's Kittan. We've got the new source unconscious. What do you want us to do with him?"

"_Ah jeez, this was only meant to be a recon mission. Did you get any info on that armor of his?"_

"Probably enough, he made a couple of stupid mistakes in combat, he probably had some plan but it didn't quite work out."

"_Ok, leav-" _Simon's transmission became garbled at the last part.

"Say what Simon?" asked Kittan, Makken looking at the communicator briefly before shrugging.

"_- him there" _

"Yes, he's there, what do you want us to do?" asked Kittan, his tone rising to annoyance.

"LEAVE HIM THERE!" cried a voice from behind them. "Pierce through! Sunlight Heart Plus!"

Before Jorgun or Balinbow could react, a pointed burst of white energy tore past them, knocking them unconscious from the force of the blast. Makken raised his blades to defend himself from the burst, but as the tip of the energy touched them, where they were touched, they melted, leaving the swords at odd angles.

As the energy died down, Kittan only saw a leg as it collided with his stomach, winding him. Makken saw more, spiky black hair and a red shirt before the flat side of a lance collided with his head in a practised move. Without pausing, the figure turned to the unconscious Nara.

The radio Kittan dropped continued to scream at no-one.

"_KITTAN-"_

XxX

"COME IN, KITTAN!" yelled Simon into his microphone, he then changed channels "Yoko, confirm Kittan's status!"

A few seconds went by before a small crackle signalled Yoko's answer.

"_He's down… Simon, they're all down. I just saw someone drag the target into the treeline again, I can't confirm their identity."_

Simon grunted as he turned to Lord Genome, "Lord Genome, you have records of that battle's audio right? Analyse it and tell me the best way to counter this kid." He demanded.

The head nodded, closing his eyes to think. Opening them again, he addressed Simon.

"They appeared to have Makken use close range weapons while they suppressed him with covering fire. To counter the target, optimal probability comes from close range combat."

Simon looked to Leeron quickly who thought quickly before nodding.

"Ok, send four of those new people, the top four on the CQC register. Tell them to capture the target, any means necessary, just alive." said Simon, sitting back in his chair.

"Yes." Said Lord Genome as he relayed the orders.

XxX

"Hey, Shikamazu! Wake up, Hiko's gonna kill me if you're dead!" called a voice, rousing the older teen back into the waking world.

Coughing and spluttering up blood, Shikamaru sat up and looked around him. He was in amongst the trees not far from the four men he had faced, knocked unconscious on the floor.

"Kazuki…" Shikamaru started, stopping when he realised how dizzy he was. "Did… did you do that?"

"Yeah man, I was afraid I'd lost you for a sec. Ya see, Eda and her crew like these donuts that taste like condensed milk, but they're only sold in this one little place in North Namkaga, cool place, the bakers are nice there. I had no idea they'd try to attack you straight away. I'm just so glad Hiko was here, otherwise you could have ended up killed, then Yuki would be pissed at me, then the universe would die and I'm so sorry man, I can't even describe it." Blathered Kazuki, kneeling down to talk to Shikamaru.

Coughing up some blood and wiping his nose, Shikamaru looked around. He let out a wince and grabbed his head.

"Gah! Head, Hurting." Eased out Shikamaru between hisses. "I've had worse Kazuki, just… we need to go. Leave. How do we kill that!"

Kazuki decided to answer his questions one by one.

"Yeah… that'd happen. You got clubbed by a rifle. I'm surprised you're even awake now."

"What about the gun?" said Shikamaru, his eyes still partly glazed over.

"The gun lady? She's here? Aww man, why can't Smoker be here? She can't hit him."

The sound of marching got his attention, so he peeked out from behind a tree. Coming towards the four unconscious men was another group of four younger guys. Each was built well but with different heights. Two were simply huge, nearly two metres high each and packed with muscle. One was a lot shorter with a close cut beard around his mouth and chin, built more like a barrel, clearly strong but smaller than the average. And the other was average sized, but with a strong build. Each one wore a pair of black combat pants and a tight black t-shirt with a large sunglasses wearing dragon on the back.

They jogged briefly as they saw the unconscious men, each one checking over a man before the other three nodding to the small one. The small man stood up and pulled a small radio from his belt before speaking in a gruff voice.

"This is junior operator Texe; we have confirmation that operators Black, Jokin, Bakusa and Bakusa are still alive."

Kazuki ducked behind the tree again as he saw the men starting to look around. Ducking down, he made a small signal to Shikamaru with his index finger, telling him to be quiet.

"_Are they stable?"_

The short man looked at one of the larger men, this one with cropped blonde hair and the other with longer black hair. The blonde haired man leant down next to Makken.

"Ultimate…." Murmured the older man in his unconscious haze.

The large man nodded to Texe who then spoke into the radio.

"That's confirmed Commander, operators are stable."

"_Continue mission as planned, I'll send out more people to pick them up, don't lose that target."_

"Understood sir, we got the image with the mission assignment." Texe then put the radio back on his belt.

Kazuki felt several small pressures on his arm, looking down he saw something that made his breath hitch. By the second, butterflies were landing on his arm. His face contorted in disgust as he felt them crawl around on his skin. Shikamaru noticed his discomfort and looked at him curiously. Kazuki caught the glare and mouthed the answer to him.

"I. Don't. Like. Butterflies."

The short man then spoke to his group.

"You all saw the message, they won't be far, and we're not going to let this guy get away with injuring these operators"

"Don't you get the feeling we're kinda being led like animals to the slaughter. This target or his friend took out four operators in next to no time, what makes you think we'll last any longer?" asked the average sized man.

Texe looked offended at that.

"That is not the kind of attitude we have in the Dai Gurren Dan, is it Yacht? We're the team that looks at impossible jobs and makes them possible. Central Government relies on us to police the streets, to protect citizens, how can you do that if you're afraid to put yourself in harm's way in the pursuit of justice?"

"No it isn't Texe, but this isn't your average job, this was a _direct_ order from the Commander. They're normally only for senior operators like the ones lying unconscious." Replied Yacht, pointing at the group with a scowl on his face.

Kazuki was getting more uncomfortable as more butterflies landed. He could easily shake them off, at the cost of giving away his rather obvious hiding place. His arm twitched slightly at the idea, shaking a few off. The men's talking paused as they saw butterflies seemingly appear from nowhere. With a mutter of 'Just butterflies', the men continued speaking as Kazuki got more and more tense.

Shikamaru turned to him, trying to indicate that he should breathe deeply. Kazuki just took this as a reason to panic more.

"Then we have to do our best, if we don't then we can't return to base with our heads held high. Would you rather certainly fail in disgrace, or possibly succeed with great honor?"

"Well what do you two want to do?" asked Yacht to the two large men.

"I just want to fight, strong, weak, doesn't matter." replied the black haired man.

"I expected as much from you Matthew, how about you Chandak?" said Yacht, shaking his head.

"I'm a doctor… you get hurt, I do my best to look after you. I'm just following Texe on this mission."

"Dr Butterfly!" came a loud yell from about twenty feet into the wooded area. With a leap, a teenager appeared, carrying another teen in his arms, before he turned and ran in the opposite direction, going deeper into the woods. Glancing at the teen in the runner's arms, they all quickly came to the same conclusion.

"That's the target! Get him!" yelled Texe, taking off after Kazuki with his men in tow.

XxX

"Fuck, Fuck, Fuck. Why the fuck did _that_ come out." muttered Kazuki as he ran through the forest, he was currently running down a wooded hill. He could hear yells from nearby but was too deep in the woods to see them through the brush. The weight in his arms was starting to ache badly, so he spoke to the guy in them. "Hey Shika, I've gotta throw you over my shoulders or I'm gonna drop ya."

"Just let me run, I can do it." said Shikamaru woozily.

"I think that ninja training messed you up in the head, you just took a _rifle_ to the _face_ and you think you're fine? Hardly. You're not doing anything unless you have to."

With that, Kazuki hefted Shikamaru over his head until Shikamaru's stomach was resting against the back of his neck. That slight misbalance from the switch was enough to push Kazuki too far.

"Oh shiiii-" yelled Kazuki as he fell over with Shikamaru, tumbling over himself as he fell down the hill. He felt the roots from surrounding trees, each one throwing him up in the air as well as adding a considerable bruise to his already large collection. Shikamaru fly off his shoulders after the first root, the impact making him loosen his grip, since he didn't expect it, so the ninja was rolling down the hill alongside him.

With a lot of snapping, the two rolled onto the branches of a young downed tree in front of some thick bushes. Kazuki let out a gasp as his back hit the trunk while Shikamaru rolled to a stop face up after hitting the trunk sideways. Feeling bones all over his body crack, he let out a groan, but still forced himself to move. Picking himself up, Kazuki walked with obvious difficulty to where Shikamaru was trying to sit up.

"Come on Shika, we gotta move. Those guys will be here in like, thirty seconds." Exclaimed Kazuki, pulling on Shikamaru to help him to his feet, "Hiko's gonna want some back up, if that sniper is focussing on him now."

At the mention of Hiko and the sniper, Shikamaru perked up.

'_What's happened to me… that strategist who fought off immortals, who was tasked to lead an army against a madman, and I'm on the run from thugs? My chakra is low, I've broken at least some ribs and may have fractured my collarbone… is this what she meant when she said I was the tactician? Was I never meant to fight with these guys?'_

Shikamaru slumped into Kazuki arms.

"Why don't you kill them Kazuki, it would be so easy. I have knives in my holster, take as many as you need and kill them. We'll survive and Hiko will get back up as soon as we get there." Said Shikamaru into Kazuki's shoulder. Kazuki sat him on the tree and stood up.

"HEY, THERE THEY ARE!" came the yell of the short man, who started charging down the hill, having no problems keeping his balance.

"I won't kill them because I don't need to," said Kazuki, turning to face the men "I've never killed a human, and I don't need to now. I had one begging for death before, a man who I call a good friend now, and he was trying to kill me. I tried to get away, but it's clear that's not an option now. We're lost and have incoming enemies, so-" Kazuki placed his hand above his heart. "Pierce thr-"

"FOUND HIM!" came a yell from behind them, Kazuki turned in shock as the bushes behind the tree trunk parted and six figures burst through. Each one was dressed head to toe in indigo; Hakama, Gi, armor and helmets along with a wooden bokken each. The figures ran in front of the battered duo, five making a line to stop the charging men, and one standing closer to the two injured teens.

"Sonkyo!" commanded the lone figure as the five figures in the line stepped forward in unison three times and squatted down, drawing their bokken at the same time.

"Chuudan no Kamae!" the figures feet shifted position, the left heel slightly lifted and placed parallel but further back than the right foot. The bokken were then placed directly in front of them.

The charging men didn't stop at the appearance of the figures. They were within thirty foot of the line all too soon.

"Bust through these suckers! Aim for the gaps!" yelled Texe, readying a palm to shove with.

"Namkaga Kendo Squad! Combination One!" instructed the lone figure loudly, hand idly over his own bokken.

As the men got within ten feet of the line, the group stepped forward as one, each one cutting a line horizontally at waist height to their right with a large kiai. Each of the charging men didn't stop in time and got hit in the gut by the powerful blows.

"What the…" gasped out Matthew, his stomach screaming in pain at him.

While they were winded from this, the kendoka stepped back and repeated the maneuver but instead, swinging to their left, hitting the men in their other side, leaving them all panting on the floor.

"See what I mean Texe! We gotfucked!" yelled Yacht, "You dumbass!"

Again, the kendoka stepped back again. With a large swing upwards, they each looked at their targets heads, before bringing the wooden swords down on them, the clunking sound of the wood hitting skulls echoing around the clearing.

"Sonkyo!" instructed the man standing close to the pair of injured teens.

Stepping back again, the kendoka squatted, bokken held in front of them in a ready stance.

"Sage To!"

The kendoka then 'sheathed' their bokken and returned to a normal carrying stance. The man stood in front of them then turned around, his face half visible through the bars of his helmet. It was clearly a man older than them, but not by too much, maybe his mid-twenties to early thirties. The then walked up to Kazuki and put a gloved hand on his shoulder.

"You must be Kazuki, yes?" asked the man.

"Yeah… but who the hell are you?" Kazuki panted out, cringing as speaking hurt his ribs.

"Just call me Ben, I'm the sensei to this kendo group, and these are my students. Joshua, Ryan, Andrew, Max and Him."

"Him?" questioned Kazuki.

"That's his name, Him, but don't talk, I'll explain. Hiko sent us to find you, said you'd be making a lot of noise somewhere around here. Believe me; the man doesn't know how to ask for help. But our old sensei trusts him enough to be her eyes, so doing him a favor isn't such a bad thing." Said Ben, his tone steady.

"And he wants you back there soon! He's getting shot at!" piped up one of the kendoka.

"Yes, Max, I was getting around to that part." Ben shook his head "Look, we'll get rid of these bodies, say we found them unconscious in the woods. Now go help Hiko," He motioned for the group to pick up the bodies and follow him. He looked back at the now staring pair before saying "Go!" and jogging off, followed by the students.

"Kazuki… did we just get saved by people with wooden swords?" asked Shikamaru, his head feeling better after not moving for a while.

Kazuki just stared at where the group just left from.

"I am so having words with Hiko when we get back; he knows he's not meant to get civilians involved. Civilians means police get involved, then we have to deal with that." Muttered Kazuki as he helped Shikamaru up, supporting him with his shoulder "You ok to walk?"

"Yeah, but what do you mean, get the police involved? Aren't they already involved with fights like this happening?"

Kazuki groaned, "Walk and talk Shikamaru, we've gotta get to Hiko now." Kazuki in turn started leading the pair through the bush the kendoka came through and towards what he could now hear as swords clanging together in the distance. "Look, at the moment this war of ours is obvious, yet also hidden. The police don't get involved due to the rules of this universe. But the only catch I've noticed is that we don't involve civilians. In a few fights before, civilians got injured and the police went crazy protective in district we fought for ages. Like, every other street had a cop on it."

The pair exited the wooded area, finding themselves on the other end of the large open area that Hiko was fighting on. In the mid-distance, they could see the form of that giant red thing waiting.

"So why don't they get involved?" asked Shikamaru, wiping some blood off his lip.

"I don't know Shika, but the bad guys don't involve innocents, and we don't either. So the police don't really have much to say about that. I honestly think Byakuran is paying them off to look the other way, so he can try to attack us in daylight, but he doesn't… this is the most open attack we've ever had, that's why I left you there, because I really didn't they'd attack you."

Shikamaru just nodded his head; he could see the logic in not making an enemy of the city that houses you.

"So how do we back up Hiko?" asked the ninja, able to see the two sword-fighting men up close. Hiko looked to be the better swordsman, his moves faster and strikes more numerous than Kamina's, but he had to back away as he was shot at.

'_My chakra's coming back… it's not much at the moment but I can at least do a few moves.'_ thought Shikamaru.

"Well… that sniper is causing him trouble, and we can't exactly take care of her anymore if they've got big burly guys guarding them; and we'd need something pretty big to block her. And neither of us has that." Said Kazuki, looking at the battlefield. There was the large field, then the woods and then finally the Dai-Gurren. Shikamaru looked around then noticed something.

"Not quite…" said Shikamaru "Shadow possession technique!"

XxX

Kamina launched an overhead strike at Hiko, who parried the attack deftly before piercing forwards, scraping the younger man's neck. Kamina jumped backwards, panting after fighting for so long.

"Are you tired already boy? You wouldn't have lasted five minutes in the revolution against those amateurs calling themselves manslayers. Even my useless apprentice would have had no problem taking you down, even as a child." Taunted Hiko.

Kamina took a few breaths before retorting. "I don't see you slaying me, so you couldn't be too good at your job!"

"That's because you're not a man." Spat Hiko, grinning at the man's outraged expression

"Hey Hiko! You can fight for real now, Shikamaru's taking care of the sniper!" called Kazuki from his position behind a tree, the ninja visible beside him.

Averting his eyes quickly to see Kazuki and Shikamaru, Hiko focussed on his stance again.

"A likely story you lazy plague-ridden pustule! He's right beside you!" yelled back Hiko, watching Kamina pant to get his breath back.

"_Kamina! What's up with Gurren?" _asked Yoko through Kamina's own earpiece, clipped subtly around his ear and near invisible to an observer.

"What?" Kamina muttered "What's up with Gurren?"

"_It keeps moving. Are you controlling it? Because I can't get a shot at that swordsman right now."_

"What the hell?" yelled Kamina, drawing Hiko's attention as he turned to look at his mecha. Gurren was currently standing between the sniper and Hiko, a good hundred feet away from where he'd originally left it. It's cockpit was wide open with no one inside, but was bobbing up and down on its toes like a human.

"Haha! What do you know? He's good for something!" yelled Hiko, bullrushing Kamina. As the pair of men moved, the large robot followed them, staying in between the fighting and the sniper.

XxX

**Warning – Lagann Separation imminent, prepare to switch to emergency power.**

A loud warning was buzzing through the Dai-Gurren, Simon had ran towards Lagann's dock as soon as he heard Yoko's report.

"_Simon, Gurren is being controlled. It's in the way so I can't support Kamina anymore. He's alone out there Simon! Help him!"_ Yoko had nearly screamed down into her mic as she reported in.

Leeron was currently standing up, standing at the bridge window, trying to view the fight with a small pair of binoculars. Their range was less than Yoko's version (set or pair when talking about Yoko… sounds too much like boobs) air, but were easier to store for general use.

"Listen Yoko, Calm down. I'm giving you my special permission to fire on Gurren to disable it. Now save your man girl!" explained Leeron, making himself loud enough to be heard over her hyperventilation.

All he heard for a few moments was that rapid breathing, but soon he heard a wheezy "Ok…"

Just then, the lights in the room dimmed, lights all around the base going out completely as well as all non-essential systems going offline.

**Lagann Separated – Emergency power active.**

In the new, quieter bridge, the roar of Lagann's jets was clear as day. Simon himself was piloting it as it flew past the deck window, the thruster jets powered by his will to continue.

"_BRO!" _was all they heard over the connection to Lagann.

"Yoko, Simon's on his way. Now knock Gurren down!" yelled Leeron

This time, he didn't get a reply, but he did hear several bangs from above.

XxX

Shikamaru felt his connection to Gurren loosen as the leg started to become unresponsive, dragging behind the rest of the machine's puppet-like movements.

'_That sniper got the idea quickly…'_ thought Shikamaru with a frown. _'Too late though.'_

Gurren crashed down to the floor, its large body making a shield from Yoko's shots, but it was now an immobile one again. Not that it helped the situation.

Hiko had Kamina on the floor again, behind the downed Gurren. A low roar was the only sound between the two as they regarded each other. Fuyutsuki, Hiko's blade, was caressing the younger man's neck, the blade cutting an ever so fine line along its path.

"You know what kid, you could have become great. Dedicate yourself less to that machine and more to the sword, you might have even touched me. I mean, if I didn't have twenty years' experience and the world's best style on my side. Too bad kid, the world won't miss you."

"BRO!" came a loud yell from the side as well a loud buzzing. Simon, in Lagann, landed with a crash beside the pair, before pouncing on Hiko. A large drill protruding from the mini-mecha's forehead, the point focussed against Hiko's blade. Hiko jumped off of Kamina as Lagann and Simon pushed him backwards. The samurai leapt backwards and to the side quicker than Lagann could advance, saving his blade in the process.

"Bro, get in!" yelled Simon to Kamina, who picked himself up and looked at Simon angrily from beside Lagann.

"No way Simon, this was a man's fight, you should have let me finish it."

Simon growled loudly

"Bro! This is not time for your fucking manly bullshit! Do you want to die? To leave everyone behind for some petty idea? A man takes responsibility for his decisions, thinks of consequences, who he could be affecting! Now get in and shut up!"

Kamina was taken aback by the outburst, but accepting Simon's argument, he struggled for a second before getting into the small cockpit of Lagann as well.

Simon then turned to Hiko, who was now being joined by Kazuki and Shikamaru, and addressed them.

"I trust you're not going to try anything now? I'm leaving peacefully."

"You attacked me and you think you can leave peacefully?" yelled Shikamaru, sniffing through his broken nose.

"Actually, you attacked us. Kamina was out on a routine patrol when he was attacked and acted in self-defence." lied Simon smoothly, eyeing the trio with distaste "I'm leaving as peacefully as I ever have been. Besides, I'm sure you don't want Lagann's drill to snap that sword of yours. A sword user without a sword would be a shame."

Leaving the group in silence, the small mecha started to walk away. It climbed atop Gurren and started to connect a series of hooks on wires from under pieces of Gurren's armor onto Lagann's back, letting the piloted mecha tow the damaged one. Before leaving the area, Simon turned to face the group again.

"One more thing before I leave, one of my men used the word 'Ultimate' in connection to you all… Care to explain that?" asked Simon, genuine curiosity in his voice.

Hiko was about to comment before Kazuki butted in.

"We're the Ultimate. The winners of this war, in fact we're the ultimate super stars of war"

"The Ultimate Super Stars of War?"

"In fact, that sounds too long." Said Kazuki, shaking his head "We're the Ultimate Stars."

Simon repeated the name to himself a few times, before nodding and continuing on his way, back to the Dai-Gurren.

Hiko then rounded on Kazuki, an expression of fury on his face. Kazuki just looked back at him in semi-confusion.

"What?"

XxX

A/N: Hope you guys enjoyed this first skirmish with the opposition, please read, review, let me know what you think and any criticisms you have. In the meanwhile, anyone who hasn't already should check out the fics from my Beta Lucifer-Allheart, they're all awesome.

Beta Note: Hey everyone, beta'd and approved by Lucifer-Allheart, hope you enjoy the chapter.


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